It would be great if our journey of faith could be graphed with a straight line heading ever upward.
But it can’t.
We’ve failed during our time in the Lord and that graph line looks more like a bouncing stock chart and nothing like a heaven-bound centerline.
I was reminded of my life’s pattern of non-linear faith while reading from Matthew 14 this morning.
The chapter in the One-Year Bible contains the story of Jesus walking on the water and Peter’s brief experience of doing the same.
For a moment, Peter’s faith line was arching toward heaven.
There’s a problem with moments, though. They don’t last very long.
“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
“Come,” He said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.
But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” (Matthew 14:28-31)
I see in this passage a cycle of faith that we’ve all experienced many times in one form or another and which, unfortunately, will continue to encounter until we head to heaven. Hopefully, though, the frequency will decline as our faith grows.
What cycle is that? Faith => Flesh => Fear => Failure => Faith
The fact is that faithful people who go to church and read their Bibles and pray and tithe and volunteer — all the things they should do — are just as susceptible to failure as anybody else if the voice of “flesh” gains too much volume in their hearts and minds.
Peter felt the threats of the world and thought of his flesh’s weakness and fear set in.
When fear set in, the voice of the flesh grew louder than the voice of faith.
That’s when failure began.
Thankfully, when all was lost, he cried out in faith.
Restored, he proceeded in confidence until the next time the cycle repeated itself.
This is our life, too.
Let’s do our best to trust faith more and flesh less.
That sinking feeling is never good.
As always, I love you
Martin
