Walking on Water

Walking on water—Jesus did it. But we forget that Peter did too; for a while anyway. As the story goes, as long as Peter kept his eyes on Jesus, he walked on the water. He began to sink when he looked at the storm.

Peter’s experience mirrors the church today. The church faces a severe challenge. Islam is poised to become the largest religion in the world sometime around mid-century. In many respects, whole areas of Europe are essentially lost to Christendom. Church attendance and Christian religious affiliation in the United States, while still high compared to the world and in total number, is slipping as a percentage of the overall population. All the while, the population of the world is exploding.

Many in the church see the moral fiber of American unraveling while anyone who stands for morality is ridiculed. Immorality is prevalent in the church—both pulpit and pew.

Many have desired to bring America back to God—worthy indeed! However, despite political influence, this has not happened. Instead, those involved fell all too often into immorality and greed themselves. Those who hold unchristian perspectives have been emboldened while the church has been co-opted by forces on both ends of the political spectrum.

What happened? What went wrong? Like Peter, we lost focus. We took our eyes off of Jesus and focused on the storm and everything else. Though empowered to walk on water, the church has been sinking.

Jesus told us that if we seek his kingdom, all would be added to us. Yet, we have sought everything else in hopes of having the kingdom thrown in. The Declaration of Independence became more important than the declaration of freedom in Christ. Debates about the Constitution replaced the development of a personal constitution built on Christian character. The Bill of Rights became more precious than living right. Republicanism replaced repentance and being a Democrat replaced denial of self. Government was heard more than grace, debates about federalism drowned out the proclamation of forgiveness, and security trumped sanctification.

As important as loyalty to the country and patriotism are, for the Christian, the first loyalty has to be to the Kingdom of God. If we focus on America, we will miss the Kingdom and lose American for the Kingdom. If we focus on the Kingdom, then we can trust God to take care of America if He desires. Focus on God, and God will take care of everything else. Focus on everything else and we sink. Walking on water requires the proper focus.

Walking on water—Jesus did it. But we forget that Peter did too; for a while anyway. As the story goes, as long as Peter kept his eyes on Jesus, he walked on the water. He began to sink when he looked at the storm.

Peter’s experience mirrors the church today. The church faces a severe challenge. Islam is poised to become the largest religion in the world sometime around mid-century. In many respects, whole areas of Europe are essentially lost to Christendom. Church attendance and Christian religious affiliation in the United States, while still high compared to the world and in total number, is slipping as a percentage of the overall population. All the while, the population of the world is exploding.

Many in the church see the moral fiber of American unraveling while anyone who stands for morality is ridiculed. Immorality is prevalent in the church—both pulpit and pew.

Many have desired to bring America back to God—worthy indeed! However, despite political influence, this has not happened. Instead, those involved fell all too often into immorality and greed themselves. Those who hold unchristian perspectives have been emboldened while the church has been co-opted by forces on both ends of the political spectrum.

What happened? What went wrong? Like Peter, we lost focus. We took our eyes off of Jesus and focused on the storm and everything else. Though empowered to walk on water, the church has been sinking.

Jesus told us that if we seek his kingdom, all would be added to us. Yet, we have sought everything else in hopes of having the kingdom thrown in. The Declaration of Independence became more important than the declaration of freedom in Christ. Debates about the Constitution replaced the development of a personal constitution built on Christian character. The Bill of Rights became more precious than living right. Republicanism replaced repentance and being a Democrat replaced denial of self. Government was heard more than grace, debates about federalism drowned out the proclamation of forgiveness, and security trumped sanctification.

As important as loyalty to the country and patriotism are, for the Christian, the first loyalty has to be to the Kingdom of God. If we focus on America, we will miss the Kingdom and lose American for the Kingdom. If we focus on the Kingdom, then we can trust God to take care of America if He desires. Focus on God, and God will take care of everything else. Focus on everything else and we sink. Walking on water requires the proper focus.