I have two books in my library by the same title. One is a collection of sermons on practical living. The other is by John Ortberg. "If You Want to Walk on Water, You Have to Get Out of the Boat." Great title. Great emphasis on acting in faith. The concept is taken from the story in Matthew of Peter climbing out of the boat to walk on water to meet Jesus coming to him.
As you can read in these passages, Jesus came walking on the water to the disciples in the middle of night. Winds were up across the lake so that meant the seas were swelling. I'm sure the disciples were already concerned about an impending storm on the lake, when this ghost like figure appears strolling atop the surface of the water. Since water skiing and jet skiing weren't invented yet, Jesus coming to them walking on the water was no doubt unsettling to say the least. Okay, it scared the bejeebees out of them.
After a brief conversation with a figure who claims to be Jesus, Peter decides to verify it's Jesus by climbing out of the boat and walking toward Him. Things went well for a while until Peter came to his senses and realized that what he was doing was impossible and down he went. Jesus called him Rock (Peter means Rock) for a reason, he sank like one.
As I look at this story, I've come to the conclusion that it's not climbing out of the boat that allowed Peter to walk on water. Oh sure, that played a part. But climbing out of the boat was more of an impulse. If you want to walk on water, keeping your eyes on Jesus and trusting Him seems to be the key. Any fool can climb out of boat. If you do, they'll be calling you Rocky too. What allowed Peter to walk on water was answering Christ's call to come to Him, trusting Him and focusing every step on Him, not the circumstances surrounding Him.
God, I want to walk on water, but only if you call me to. I don't want to be jumping overboard to draw attention to myself or just to show off or to prove something. I do want to rise above my circumstance by focusing on you, and walking daily step by step in you.
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