Part 2: Walking On Water-Peter's Walk Of Fame Or Shame

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
Romans 1:17

Peter’s Role In The Bible

Peter’s walk on water propelled him to become one of the most read-about Apostles of the New Testament. He had a reputation of being reckless, outspoken, and obstinate. Even though he failed miserably during the time of the crucifixion, he repented and returned to walk his walk of faith, and this time the walk didn’t end with him sinking into a cold, turbulent sea even though Jesus nicknamed him the “Rock.” (Matthew 16:18)

Peter’s role in the Bible is quite significant.

He was the first disciple called when Christ began His ministry. (Luke 5:10)
He was the first to proclaim Christ as the Son of God. (Matthew 16:16)
He was the first to perform a miracle after Jesus’ ascension. (Acts 3:6)
He was the first to carry the gospel to the Gentiles. (Acts 10:34)

Peter became a strong, faith-filled leader in the early church. He left the life that he had built for himself and completely surrendered to do the work he had been called to do by serving His Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

In my last article, Walking On Water And Other Tall Tales Of Faith, I introduced a supposed scenario of a different tale of Peter’s act of water walking. We’ve always heard it told that Peter’s faith allowed him to be called out of the boat and walk on water, and he succeeded as long as his eyes were on Jesus. But he looked at the circumstances washing around his feet and decided it wasn’t possible to walk on water, so he began to sink and was saved by Jesus Who helped him back into the boat.

But when we look at the passage that leads up to the miraculous walk on water, it may point to something else.

“Immediately He [Jesus] made the disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side…And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. (Matthew 14:22, 25)

“And about the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them, but when they saw Him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and cried out, for they all saw Him and were terrified.” (Mark 6:48)

“When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened. But He said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” (John 6:19-20)

“And Peter answered Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

Why Did Jesus Rebuke Peter?

Let’s imagine for a moment that Jesus’ statement of “little faith” was directed to Peter, saying, “if it is really You” instead of the supposed idea that he lost his faith in the middle of his walk on water. Wasn’t it faith that allowed Peter to hop out of the boat? And faith that allowed him to take the steps he took towards Jesus? So, the question is, was it lack of faith that caused Peter to say, “is it really You”?

But perhaps Peter wanted to walk on water for his own satisfaction. Maybe he wanted proof of who Jesus was, or he wanted to do something spectacular like Jesus.

Jesus told the disciples, “go to the other side.”
Jesus meant to pass by them on the water.
Jesus identified Himself and told them to be at peace.
Peter then asks to step out of the boat.
Jesus rebuked Peter for not having faith.

In this scenario, was He asking Jesus to prove Himself? Was Peter seeking his own glory? Did he want to walk on water so he could do the spectacular?

Called To The Spectacular Or The Mundane

Some of us are called to the spectacular. Some of us are called to take a step that seems so big that we know we will drown if we don’t keep our eyes on Jesus. We become popular; people hang onto our every word, all of our works are seen and praised. We JUMP out of the boat and keep our eyes on Jesus and walk with Him on water. However, if we are doing the spectacular for the thrill of it, we are not walking by faith, and the cold, turbulent, icy waters of doubt can come crashing down on us at any time.

Some of us are called to the mundane. Some of us are called to stay in the boat. We still take that big leap of faith to trust in God and His Word. But our works are never noticed. We practice hiding God’s Word in our hearts that we might not sin against Him. We help our fellow shipmates when they need us. We find a quiet place in a corner of the boat to spend time alone with God. We keep our eyes on Jesus as we are called to swab the deck, hoist the sail, and guide the boat as it goes through the tumultuous storms of life. But the mundane can cause us to become complacent in our walk, and we never get to see God’s miraculous wonders simply because we are not looking for them.

Spectacular or mundane, we are all called to walk by faith. 2 Corinthians 5:6-7

Walking By Faith, Not By Sight

Faith is a familiar word among Christians:

faith can move mountains
just have faith, and it will be okay
faith as small as a grain of mustard seed
without faith, it’s impossible to please God

But what does walking by faith mean?

Do you remember when you were 10-12 months old, and you were practicing walking? Probably not. But since adulthood, we have seen toddlers struggle to learn. Parents have hour-long videos of their children’s struggles to take that first step.

Our walk of faith is like that. God does not expect us to be washed in the blood of Christ, plunged into the baptismal waters, and jump up and start walking on water. We begin as babes in Christ. The struggle to walk by faith is real. We step out, we fall, we step out again, and this time we take a few steps closer to Jesus.

3 Basic Steps of Faith Walking

Listen for the Shepherd. Before we are saved, the only voice we hear in our head is self and Satan. After salvation, we have a Shepherd who calls us by name. The first step in walking by faith is learning to hear Jesus’ voice. We can do that by reading His Word and memorizing Scripture. If you are new to this Christian life, take your Bible and begin reading Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Pay special attention to the words in red. Soon your ears will be trained to hear the Shepherds voice. (John 10:27-30)
Keep your eye on the prize. When we start on a journey, we get excited about everything. The time it takes to get there, what we are taking with us, who we will see on the way, and what we will do once we get there. Our faith walk is a journey; our destination is Heaven. As we walk by faith, the mundane of life begins to take our attention away from our faith walk. Thinking about where we are going and why we are going, and what we will do once we get there will keep us focused on the result. (Hebrews 4:12)
Don’t be surprised when your walk starts getting hard. Jesus walked by faith doing the Father’s will while He was here on earth. And it wasn’t easy for Him, so why do we think it should be easy for us? Jesus was called gluttonous, liar, and imposter. He was mocked, run out of His hometown, His life threatened, rejected by those He came to love, mistreated, mocked, tortured, and killed. (John 15:18)

Join the Conversation

What are your thoughts on the new scenario I presented? Whichever way we present it, faith is the key.

Has God called you to something spectacular where you are out in front of people, and everyone is watching? Or are you serving in the mundane where no one notices? In either scenario, we are all called to walk by faith.