“But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, ‘Lord, save me.'” Matthew 14:30
Dear Ones:
The life to which the Christian is called is one where he walks on water. Why would any one say this? It is simply because it is NOT a life of our own. It is not lived by the resources and power of “flesh and blood,” but by the very Spirit of Christ. The only victorious life from heaven’s standpoint is that of Christ. He only has overcome all that militates against the revelation, and manifestation of that which is divine, in earth as it is in heaven. In the story of Jesus walking on water, and Peter’s desire to come to him on the waves, we see a clear example of the difference between the two “lives,” that of the Almighty power of God as revealed in Christ, and the weakness and limitations revealed in Peter. What is very interesting here, is that Christ GIVES to Peter His victorious capacity and power to do as He did…defy the natural elements to walk on water in the midst of the storm. That which is also very revealing is that Peter, at a certain moment, is affected by the wind and waves to the point that his faith begins to waver. It is at that moment, when fear replaces faith, that he begins to sink. The he cries what his heart should have been crying all the time, “Lord, save me.”
The student of Scripture who truly desires to know why the gospel is the power of God, and then, to experience this power of the resurrection that the Apostle Paul writes about, is a candidate for the experience of this victorious life of Christ. But, where does the experience begin? It begins with the truth, the truth of what God declares to be HIS WAY. This is so very important, because, just as God is not willing that any should perish, He also is not willing that any believer come short of knowing the power of Christ’s indwelling, and indestructible life in the heart. God’s way and meaning is found on Calvary, where Christ’s specific and complete work was finished. When Christ died, He left nothing undone which was necessary for the believer to be brought into conformity with His purpose, will, and way. Thus, the believer is called upon to seek, and find, the “way” by which God in Christ, by the Spirit, will reveal Himself in and through the life.
The believer begins this quest by grasping the fact that Christ died. The knowledge of this truth is just academic until one comes to grips with Paul’s words: “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death?” (Rom. 6:3) Paul goes on to elaborate on this “act” of God, where by we died with Christ: “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” (Gal. 2:20) If ever, we should think that this crucifixion does not belong to us, we being IN Christ, and therefore benefactors and participants with Him, we need to study Paul’s words to the Colossians: “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” (3:3) What is the Lord saying, and revealing to us? It is that he will NOT have anything of sinful man inheriting the kingdom of God. How can this be? When the Lord declares, “Old things are past away; all things are become new,” He is not just speaking of our lives before we were saved. He is speaking of that which is not to be part of the equation in knowing the NEW life, the victorious life of Christ. By the cross, and our identification with Christ in His death, we leave the old sinful, and faithless existence behind, to live by a new principle, true faith. As Paul puts it, “…the faith of the Son of God who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” Faith makes possible victory.
Dear Father, Save us all day long from sin, ,self, and the world, to live by faith. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love, Dad