24 Sep
Get Real
And climbing out of the boat, Peter started walking on the water and came toward Jesus. Matthew 14:29
The other evening I watched the 2001 film, “A Beautiful Mind,” which tells the story of John Nash, a 1994 Nobel Prize winner and brilliant mathematician who struggled to overcome the delusions and reality-warping effects of schizophrenia. I have seen this film before, but I continue to be profoundly impressed by the man’s ability to use more than his sensual perceptions to ascertain reality. By trusting family and friends who loved him to tell him if something was “real” and by choosing not to feed his delusions, Nash managed to keep his feet in the real world and to contribute to it greatly. That’s pretty deep stuff, but what I really mean to ponder here is how much of what we see as reality really is real?
A commonly spoken mantra today is “perception is reality.” And while I understand the assumptions behind it, that our perception affects our understanding of reality, I cringe every time I hear it. The truth is that reality is reality. And sometimes spiritual reality and the physical world of our perception intersect in mind-jarring ways that can cause us to question what’s really real. And that’s where faith begins if we let it.
In Matthew 14, Peter and the other disciples saw Jesus walking toward them on the sea. Yes, they were in a boat, and Jesus was walking on the water. Not only did Peter believe this unreal scene, he asked Jesus to help him to do it, too. “Climbing out of the boat, Peter started walking on the water and came toward Jesus.” Impossible! Yes, but still real. When poor Peter finally realized the incredibility of his situation, he became afraid and started to sink. Then Jesus said, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” (14:31). What is the reality here? Is water a liquid or a solid? Can people walk on water? Our knee-jerk answers to these questions would make what Peter did an impossibility. Yet, it happened. He walked “on the water and came toward Jesus.” Peter’s faith, though small and fading with fear, made the impossible possible. Faith became the true reality.
Jesus said, “With God all things are possible” (Matt. 19:26), and “everything is possible to the one who believes” (Mark 9:23). What impossible or unrealistic thing is God calling you to do today? Do you know it is God who is leading you to it? Does it line up with the precepts and guidelines of Scripture? Do godly friends and advisers confirm that it may be God’s leading? Then it’s time to get real in your faith and to go wherever God is leading—even if it seems to be impossible! “Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). Follow Peter’s example. Act in faith and climb out of the boat. The water’s fine!
Father, help me to know Your voice and to have the faith to walk toward Jesus even if it means stepping out in rough seas. With You, I know, all things are possible. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
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