Devotional:
I love imagining Peter’s face as he looks at Jesus walking on water and immediately wants to join Him! And how Peter probably got even more excited when Jesus invited him to join Him. The sheer joy of Peter as he trusts Jesus to get out of the boat and walks on water toward Jesus. But as he notices the surroundings — the wind and waves — he doubts, starts to sink, and cries out for Jesus. Jesus immediately saves him.
As Young Life leaders, we see this moment in the lives of kids and leaders all the time! When kids get so excited to follow Jesus that they make a big step in their faith to trust Jesus. Or when leaders start leading. The sheer joy of starting a deeper level of faith with Jesus.
We watch as kids and leaders start to notice the wind and waves, and doubt starts to creep into their lives. When kids and leaders realize that following Jesus doesn’t mean everything becomes amazing and easy all at once, or that we have the strength to deal with the winds and waves on our own. And we see kids and leaders start to sink — give into the doubt or temptation. But we walk with kids as Jesus grabs them and saves them. He has invited them to walk on water with Him and He won’t let them drown. His grace keeps coming.
Do we know that Jesus has the same grace for us in ministry? Ministry is hard and we’re going to mess up, fail, say the wrong thing, do the wrong thing, and even doubt. But Jesus is there to grab us when we do! He’ll keep calling us to trust Him and grow our faith, but also keep catching us when we fall.
Just like parents teaching their kids to walk, Jesus keeps inviting us to try and walk toward Him. And even when we’re able to run toward Jesus, those falls might hurt hard, but He still celebrates us getting back up and trusting him.