Peter is walking on the water towards Jesus and suddenly he begins to sink. Jesus admonishes him by saying, “O you of little faith.” This admonishment seems a little harsh. After all, Peter was probably the apostle who was closest to Jesus and he most likely had the deepest faith in Jesus at the time. Also, Peter is walking on water during rough seas which is something no one has done before, other than Jesus who is standing right in front of him, and yet Jesus still tells him he doesn’t have enough faith. If Peter has little faith, what hope do the rest of us have?
It’s may seem easy to have faith in someone who is standing right in front of us. This isn’t always the case though. I know I never trust anyone who comes to my front door to sell me something. Jesus once told Thomas, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” We may feel disadvantaged because we didn’t get to meet Jesus in person. However, Jesus calls us blessed. Our faith has the ability to be even stronger than the apostles because we who believe do so without seeing.
There is a common expression that says, “I’ll believe it when I see it.” We shouldn’t have this thought process in regards to believing in God. If we wait until we see Him to believe in Him, it will be too late. Our whole life should be spent getting to know God and learning about Him. I love watching the movie The Polar Express with my kids during Christmas. The main character in the movie is a boy who is struggling to believe. He decides to make the bold move to step on a train to the North Pole while wearing his pajamas. His train ride can be compared to our journey through life’s ups and downs. The boy finds his faith at the end of his journey and when that happens, he can finally hear the once silent bells jingling.
The things that happen to us during this life can both increase and decrease our faith. The people we journey with also can affect us in our journey. That’s why it’s important to surround ourselves with people who will help lead us in the right direction and not lead us astray. People who don’t have faith look at believers like they are crazy, but when the unbelievers begin to believe, they start to hear and see God in all of creation, just as the boy hears the jingle bells for the first time. As the song from the movie says, “You have everything you need, if you just believe.”
