Peter’s Difference :: Deeper Devotion

By Jeremy Smith

Matthew 14:25-31
Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified.
“It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.

But Jesus immediately said to them: “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.
But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

If there was an MVP given to one of the disciples, I bet Peter would have won it. Peter was the gutsy disciple. Peter said what everyone else was thinking. Peter was willing to try anything, even if it made him look foolish. Sure, he didn’t always do right (he denied Jesus three times in one night), but he was one of Jesus’ three closest disciples. How did Peter end up closer to Jesus than the others? We might assume that Jesus was playing favorites. But Jesus has the complete character of his Father, and God shows no partiality. The only possibility is that Peter differed somehow from the other disciples in his pursuit of Jesus.

Search the Bible and you’ll find that we disciples can go as far with Jesus as we want. We decide how close we want to be to our Lord, by our individual pursuit of him. So what made Peter’s pursuit of Jesus different? Let’s look back at the passage:

When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.
Notice that all the disciples, including Peter, were freaked out. It was not a lack of fear that made Peter different.

But Jesus immediately said to them: “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.
Notice that Peter is the only disciple to respond to Jesus. Jesus didn’t say, “Hey guys, come out and join me—the water is great!” This was Peter’s idea. He took the initiative and asked. He wanted to be close to Jesus. In this situation, Peter’s desire to be close to Jesus was stronger than the other disciples’. Notice that he makes a request of Jesus: “If it’s you, tell me to come to you on the water.”

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.
Peter obeyed Jesus and stepped out of the boat. Not only did Peter step out of the boat, but he stepped out of his comfort, stepped out common sense, stepped out of everything that he knew to be true up to that moment. Peter knew as well as anyone that you can’t walk on water. But he saw Jesus and immediately shifted his thinking.

But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
Like many of us, Peter got focused on surroundings. But right when he did, he cried out to Jesus. He didn’t try to get back into the boat. Even in his fear, he went directly to Jesus. He trusted Jesus more than the boat.

None of us realize the full potential of our relationship with the Lord. We look to the spiritually mature among us and say, “That’s as far as I could go in my relationship with God.” We dismiss the relationships Biblical characters had with God as impossible for us nowadays. But the truth is we can go as far with God as we want.

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