Faith is sort of like...Mandatory Roller-Skating

Have you ever tried to live by faith and yet found yourself totally out of control? Was being out of control good or bad for your faith?

I hate to roller-skate. I don't hate roller-skating as an activity when someone else is doing it. In fact, I enjoy watching a graceful skater as much as the next person. I just hate to roller-skate.

I have reasons, of course. I was usually in sports of some kind at school, and especially in the winter our basketball coaches warned us away from any activities that might result in sprained ankles or twisted knees. Consequently, I never learned to ski, ice-skate, or roller-skate. I also had a bad experience in early high school when my beautiful first date skated circles around me with another guy while I hugged a safety rail. So I should hate roller-skating, right?

Imagine my dismay, then, when the youth group I was leading at church kept pressuring me to arrange a roller-skating night. I gave them all my excuses and begged off for months, but they persisted. Finally I agreed we could go if I didn't have to skate. They moaned at the compromise, but agreed.

As I stood on the sidelines remembering the last time I had leaned on that safety rail, I noticed that the floor was clearing. I presumed there was going to be some special type of activity for skilled skaters. Suddenly I felt the strong hands of large guys lift me up off the floor and carry me to the center of the rink, though I was kicking and screaming all the way. While about fifty of them pinned me down, two of them laced a pair of skates on my feet. Then, as quickly as they had come upon me they were gone, and I faced a partly cheering, mostly jeering crowd alone, in the center of the rink.

"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!" Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?" And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God." (Matthew 14:28-33)

I guess my fear in the middle of that roller rink was nothing compared to Peter's as he realized he was walking on water in the middle of a nighttime storm. All the same, neither of us had much security under our feet, and I can almost relate to his nose dive from controlled faith to desperate panic.

There's no doubt that Peter's faith lapsed at a critical time. Jesus said that was the case. But that's the middle of the story-don't miss the beginning and the end. The beginning reminds us that Peter was trying to walk in faith. He took steps that no one else in the boat did, and for a while his faith was overcoming gravity itself. Yes, his faith took a fall, but look at the result when Jesus helped him back into the boat. Others worshiped Jesus. Back in the middle of the roller rink, I was forced to sit in my humiliation for a few seconds. Then I got up, caught my balance, and awkwardly clunked a few rolling steps to the sideline. The jeerers turned to cheerers, and the cheerers cheered louder.

Keeping strong faith sustained all the time is ideal. Faith and falling, however, is infinitely better than staying in the boat. Maybe people need to see more Christians trying, falling, and being helped by Jesus. It might even help them get in the boat and worship him themselves.

Getting your feet wet?

Have you lost control recently in your walk of faith? How did you handle it? More importantly, how did you let God handle it? More importantly, how did you let God handle it? If the uncertainties disappear, does the faith also vanish? Is it better to have believed and fallen than never to have believed at all?

You might also take a look at... Matthew 5:16; 2 Corinthians 12:9-10