More On Using Your Abilities Wisely

By Johnny Angel

Then Peter called to him, "Lord, if it's reall you, tell me to come to you by walking on water."

"All right, come," Jesus said.

So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water towards Jesus. But when he looked around at the high waves, he was terrified and began to sink. "Save me, Lord!" he shouted.

Instantly Jesus reached out his hand and grabbed him. "You don't have much faith," Jesus said. "Why did you doubt me?" And when they climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped.

(Matthew 14:28-32, NLT)


This is one of those Bible stories that you hear all of your life if you've always been in church. Audio Adrenaline has a song about this Bible story.

Most people use this story to show how that Peter took his eyes off Jesu, messed up, and had to get God's help. They usually let you know that Peter really blew it.

But I want to pursue a different view on this story. What about the disciples who stayed in the boat? I haven't heard many people mention them. At least Peter had the courage to take a step of faith.

My reason for sharing this is to help all of us know that it's okay to mess up. Peter messes up here. Later he denies Jesus. In another passage, he lets his prejudice get in the way. And still yet another passage reveals that he played popularity games with the church people by spending time with the gentiles who weren't circumcised and then avoiding them when the important Jewish people were around. Peter often acted on emotion and did things without thinking. But he pursued God with his heart and allowed God to correct him when he was wrong. The important thing is that he was doing something for God.

It may be easy to sit back and let other people do things for God. It will also be very easy to point out all their mistakes. But people who are doing something are going to make mistakes and learn from them. Then they can move on to bigger and better things. Yet people who don't do anything don't make the same mistakes because they don't do anything at all.

When you try to do something, you will mess up somewhere along the way but still be able to learn from your mistakes and go on. Any time you try to do something for God, there is going to be opposition. People are going to try to get in your way. Satan is a master at using situations to tempt you to do what you know is wrong.

But we can all try to be like Peter by trying to do things for God that come straight from the heart. God used Peter to build up the early Christian church. In spite of all Peter's mistakes, God still accomplished big things through Peter.

I feel that one of the best ways to learn is to learn by doing. There is a lot to do for God. And we can learn a lot about God by doing things for Him. We may make mistakes, but God is there to help us. He knows we're not perfect. He doesn't expect us to be perfect. He just wants us to be available.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One of my friends is getting ready to graduate from college. He has tons of opportunities to choose between. They all will be of service to God. Please pray that God will help him to know what he should do.

N Prayer, Johnny <*}}}><