Peter’s nick-names

Pete often gets a bad wrap.  We saw in the “Get thee behind me” post that sometimes people put too much on him that they shouldn’t.

Well, it wasn’t just that time.

There is another time where we see one of the Lord’s nick-names, a term of endearment if you will, for Peter.  It is in Matthew 14:28-31 Jesus comes walking on the water.  Let’s take a look.

“And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth [his] hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?”

Did you catch the nick-name?

Here, I’ll repeat it… “thou of little faith”…

But the Lord wasn’t insulting Peter… He was calling it as He saw it.  Peter had a little faith.

And with just a little faith… he walked on water.

When people say that they don’t have enough faith for something… or maybe when you feel like you don’t have enough faith for something… remember this:  Peter only had a little.

Pete walked with Jesus.  He saw what Jesus did.  And since faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen than Pete saw too much to have great faith.  So he only had a little.

But what a difference that little made!  This is the mustard seed faith.  The faith that moves mountains.  The faith that receives what God wants to give us.

And I want to focus on one other thing here.  Pete sunk when he was afraid.

Being afraid is not the same and fear.  Fear is making a correct comparison between you and someone or something else.  That is why when we fear the Lord, or make a right comparison between us the only natural response is to worship Him. 

But being afraid is a state of immobility.  It is like doubt.  It is not making a correct comparison… it is like a deer in headlights. 

Pete sank when he stopped moving toward Christ.

We must never stop moving toward Jesus.  Be not afraid.  Take that little faith you have and go move a mountain.

SDG