Walking on Water; Walking by Spirit

Peter's attempt to walk on the water struck me today as a great metaphor for our own attempt to walk by the Spirit.

Peter was able to do the miraculous simply by trusting and obeying Jesus' call to walk on the water. Peter was able to walk on the water not due to his own power, but due to God's supporting Peter as he crossed the sea. Peter's only role was expressing his faith (notice here too, how faith required an action as described by James). Unfortunately, of course we know that Peter only could maintain his walk for so long, and isn't it the same with us as we walk in the Spirit?

Nevertheless, the elements are striking and important. We can be partakers of the divine life, living out Christ in us, simply by trusting God to enable us to obey His commands. God calls us to love one another; but we all know that we don't have it in ourselves to really love each other as Christ loved us. To do so, we have to put our faith in "Christ in us" (Gal. 2:19-20) to accomplish what he asks.

Then we have to step out onto the water.