Why Many Christians Never ‘Walk On Water’
This will finish up my look at transformation knowledge. Knowledge that moves us to action in Christ. Knowledge that takes the words off the page and puts them in our hearts. It is true faith and action.
The boat represents our natural life: the visible means of support around us that we are so familiar with. The disciples were in the boat because Jesus had told them to get in. There was nothing wrong with them being in the boat. In our Christian life we often go along just fine in the ‘boat’ God has given us. It was God’s perfect will for us. He gave it to us and there is no sin in it. The boat is not leaking and there is no reason to the natural eye to get out. But if we are growing in Christ there comes a time when we will have to leave some comfortable place and step out in obedience to His command.
When we walk on water, we are walking away from what we find natural and comfortable and walking towards our highest goal in life, Christ. This isn’t about quitting your job and moving to Africa as a missionary. It isn’t only about making changes in your external circumstances at all, although that may happen as a result.
It is about drawing closer to Christ.
This may require you to give up something that you’ve been turning to for comfort or pleasure in order to make more time for Christ in your daily routine.
So why do so many of us remain stuck where we are and never come into the purpose God has intended for us? I believe this story of Peter suggests a few reasons why this happens.
1. First, as we’ve noticed, Peter asked. NO PRAYER is probably the number one reason why Christians remain spiritually stunted. Nothing of eternal value happens in our life apart from communion with Christ in private prayer. Without that, there will be no power, no life from God to reach loftier heights. We will only grow spiritually as we seek Him in prayer and feast on His word. Until we are doing this, we cannot expect God to call us to higher things.
2. Next, we see the eagerness in Peter in that he boldly asked to do such an outrageous thing. Of all the maladies afflicting the Body of Christ today, one of the greatest must certainly be apathy. Once we strip away all our excuses, plain lack of desire for Christ is what is really behind our prayerlessness. We will always make time for what we really want to do after the inescapable duties of daily life. The redeemed of Christ are “eager to do what is good.” (Titus 2:14). Christ counseled the lukewarm church to “be earnest” (Rev. 3:19). Among the other 11 disciples that remained in the boat, some I am sure harbored a desire to walk out to Christ as well, but not as much as Peter. Many Christians never “walk on the water” simply because they don’t want it enough to leave the boat. The question is not whether you love Christ, but how much do you love Him? Do you love Him more than all these other things, or are you allowing the cold water of worldliness to douse your desire for Christ?
3. We will also note that Peter was willing to leave the boat. He wanted to walk out to Christ, and he was willing to leave the relative comfort of the boat to do so. Unwillingness to give up the things we currently enjoy keeps many of us back. It is much easier to stay comfortable where we are. Walking on water requires that we make some hard choices in life and give up some of the things we enjoy and comfort ourselves with so that we can spend time with Jesus. The boat that Peter walked away from was not sinful. It was perfectly legitimate and given by God. Christ had told them to get into the boat. But Peter walked away from it in order to have more of Christ. The worldly Christian remains a spiritual infant because they will not give up their grasp on something that may be legitimate, but takes them away from Jesus, all the while arguing for it’s innocence or harmlessness. They are simply unwilling to give up some worldly pleasure, such as TV, or a favorite hobby, in order to make more time to seek Christ in prayer and the Word.
4. Many never ‘walk on water’ because they are letting fear and unbelief stop them from obeying Christ’s call. They are looking to the flesh – taking stock of their strengths, weaknesses, abilities and limitations – and not looking to Christ. Or they are looking at the difficulty of their circumstances. Either way, they are not looking to Christ. In short, they are saying ‘I can’t’ , instead of realizing that whether they can or can’t has nothing to do with it. Christ will give us the strength and ability we need to obey Him.
The only way we will ever be able to take great steps of faith is to look to Christ and not self.The only way is to know ourselves so we look to Christ. Peter did this when he left the boat.
5. There are conditions to receiving God’s power, often overlooked by the church today. Many never ‘walk on water’ because they haven’t met the necessary prerequisites. Peter was a disciple. He had left all to follow Jesus. His boat, his employment, his family, everything he knew, to follow Christ. Jesus came first before everything else.
Peter wasn’t perfect, but sin had been dealt with and wasn’t an issue in his life. He had surrendered his life to Christ completely and his heart was undivided.
Many Christians are waiting for God to move in their life, to make some dramatic change, to open doors to greater power and ministry while they lounge in front of the TV for countless hours each week.
We often get ourselves in trouble in one of two ways: We are presumptuous in our faith and try to get out of the boat before God has called us, or we are not trusting Him enough to ask and leave the boat when He calls as I am ready to get out of the boat that floats in the Adventure in Middle Grove
No comments:
Post a Comment