Faith Requires Specific Steps
“‘Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.’ ‘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.” (Matthew 14:27-29 NIV)
Dietrich Bonhoeffer says Jesus calls us to a concrete faith. We can’t just have faith in general; we must take specific steps of faith — visible, concrete steps. And the steps can’t just be anything; they must be the steps Jesus tells us to take. We can take great risks, thinking they will please Jesus, but unless Jesus initiates them, they are faithless steps.
What Jesus does, Dietrich Bonhoeffer says, is continually push us into new situations that will require us to trust him. It “is the impossible situation in which everything is staked solely on the word of Jesus,” says Bonhoeffer.
When Jesus walked on water, he called out to his disciples, “‘Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.’ ‘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” (Matthew 14:27-29 NIV).
When Jesus called Peter to step out of the boat and walk to him across the water, the disciple didn’t just jump out of the boat and yell, “Catch me, Lord, I’m coming!” He asked Jesus to call him, and Peter only stepped onto the water after Jesus told him to come on. It was a call to give up voluntarily the security of the boat for the insecurity of walking on rough water.
As Peter put his foot down on the water, he was totally dependent upon Jesus. He was taking an irrevocable step, because either Jesus would help him walk on water or Peter would sink beneath the waves.
Peter took the first step and, in that moment, he believed. His faith increased because he saw that Jesus was coming through. Then, he took another step, and his faith increased even more because he saw the consistency of Jesus.
- Obedience doesn’t merely reflect faith; obedience leads to faith.
- In what situation has God placed you so that you will learn to trust and grow your faith?
- What is it that keeps you from being obedient to Christ?
Jon Walker is the author of Breakfast with Bonhoeffer, Costly Grace, and Growing with Purpose. He is managing editor of Rick Warren’s Daily Hope devotionals. This devotional is copyrighted 2013 by Jon Walker. Used by permission.
