“Tell me to come to you on the water.” Matthew 14:28 (NIV)
When Jesus calls you to do a thing, you can do it. This is what Paul meant when he wrote: “I can do everything through him [Jesus] who gives me strength” (Phil. 4:13). And this is what Augustine meant when he prayed, “Command what You will, only give what You command.”
In the story of a man with a withered hand, Jesus told the man: “Stretch out your hand” (Mark 3:5). This was the one thing that he had never been able to do. Jesus did not tell the man to give an offering or feed the poor, He told him to do what he was incapable of doing. Nonetheless, when Jesus told him to do it, it became possible for him.
Peter understood that if Jesus wanted him to walk on water, then this would become possible for him. “Tell me to come to you on the water.” Jesus responded, “Come” (Mat. 14:29).
Peter bet everything on the Word of God: “Jesus said it. I believe it. That settles it. If He tells me to come, I’m going to go!”
“Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus” (14:29). The power of Christ takes Peter beyond the level of his own ability, so he can obey Jesus in a way that would not otherwise be possible.
The Christian life is beyond our natural ability; but Jesus gives the power along with the command. Jesus came to make this life possible for you. He did that by removing the condemnation of the law through His death on the cross, and by giving the gift of new life in the Holy Spirit to all who would come to Him in repentance and faith.
Does living the Christian life seem impossible to you? Are you trying to do it in your own strength? Or are you staking everything on Jesus’ power to take you beyond your own ability?
