Grace Part 3: When Faith Wavers

In my first post on grace, I wrote this:

If we only see God's grace as a means for forgiveness and forget that his grace intends to perfect us, then we will continue to operate in the weakness of our flesh, continue to love things more than we love God, and live in disobedience.

But if we forget that God's grace is the means for our forgiveness and only expect it to perfect us, then when we fail to trust and love God as we ought to, we will enter the darkness of self-condemnation and fear.

Confession: I tend to err on the latter side. When I screw up, I often succumb to a whirlwind of self-defeating thoughts.

"I sinned; what does that say about my heart? Does that mean that I am not a new creation? Am I really dead to sin, or am I just fooling myself? If I was living by faith, then I would not have done that. After all, there will be some who stand before God at the end of time who will hear God say, 'Depart from Me, I never knew you.' Am I just deceiving myself?"

It is times like those that I have to fight to believe that it's Jesus, the object of my faith, that saves me, not the quality or quantity of my faith.

Well, in relation to this, I got to thinking about when Peter walked on the water with Jesus, and I saw something incredible.

"Peter said to [Jesus], 'Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.' And He said, 'Come!' And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on water and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, 'Lord, save me!' Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, 'You of little faith, why did you doubt?'" - Matthew 14:28-31

When Peter started to sink in the water, his immediate response was to call on the name of the Lord. By crying out, Peter displays evidence of faith in Jesus. He doesn't try to swim. He doesn't call out for the other disciples to save him. He cries for Jesus.

And, true to character, Jesus reaches out and saves him. Praise Him for that! He is so merciful! But what does he say to Peter?

"You of little faith, why did you doubt?" (verse 31)

Peter was going to drown, and he cried out, and Jesus saved him! But he still rebuked Peter for his lack of faith.

"And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek him."- Hebrews 11:6

It is impossible to please God without faith. So in that moment when Peter considered the circumstance of the storm and, by default, took his eyes off Jesus, it didn't please Christ. Peter elevated the threat of the storm above God's ability to overcome the threat. That is actually an assault on God. Jesus would have much preferred that Peter had trusted Him all the way across the entire ocean. But it didn't keep him from responding to Peter's cry for help.

When we take our eyes off Jesus, it doesn't please Him. He actually hates it when we don't live by faith in Him. When we elevate our own weak flesh above His ability to overcome our flesh, it is an assault on Him. But He is still ready to forgive when we realize that we our faith has faltered and cry out for him to save us.

I feel like the man in Mark 9 who is asking Jesus to save his son,

"But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!" And Jesus said to him, "'If you can?' All things are possible to him who believes." Immediately the boy's father cried out and said, 'I do believe; help my unbelief.'" (vs 22-24)

I believe that in Jesus, I have all I need to overcome my unbelief.

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Coming Next - Part 4: Faith and Works