Earlier this year in one of the online services, my home church did a sermon about Jesus walking on the water and Peter joining him. Our deacon talked about how important it is for us to step out in faith even when it's hard. Unfortunately, as proven by a letter we received a couple of weeks ago, she and the other leaders are still firmly in the boat when it comes to reopening the church.
My favorite telling of this Gospel story comes from the song quoted above. No one really wants to step out of their comfort zone. In the words of Sheldon Cooper in The Big Bang Theory, "It's called the comfort zone for a reason." However, as the song says, Jesus is standing outside of our comfort zone waiting for us to join Him. He's holding out His hand and waiting for us to take it, but before we can, we've got to get out of the boat.
So if Jesus is outside the boat waiting for us, why aren't we joining Him? It's simple: we're afraid to. Our boats right now are being tossed by the waves of a pandemic, injustice, and the aftermath of a contentious presidential election. Each wave reminds us of all that we have to lose by leaving the safety and comfort of the boat. Satan wants to keep us in the boat because he is the one who really loses when we get out of it.
In his song "Fear is a Liar", Zach Williams describes some of the things fear does to us:
Admittedly, I struggled a lot with this the past eight months. The uncertainty of what life would look like caused crippling anxiety, and it seemed like my prayers were going nowhere. Normally, fear can't get a hold of me for too long because I always have work to focus on and church to attend, but for a while, I didn't have either. I started attending another church in June because I could see what not worshipping with others was doing to me. It wasn't easy to step out of my comfort zone and drive across town to worship in a place where I barely knew anyone, but God has blessed me so much through my time there. I can see him continuing to do so as I wait for my church to open up its doors once again.
Mom and I have also restarted our monthly circle meetings. Many of the women who normally come have not yet joined us because they are afraid of being in a crowded restaurant. However, none of the restaurants we've gone to have been crowded. Most have tables spaced six feet apart, and sometimes even with that space there are tables blocked off, as there are in all restaurants without large spaces between tables. There are also very few people in the restaurants, likely because there are a great deal of people like these women who are afraid to come eat in a restaurant. That's one of the crafty things about our fears: they always make everything seem worse than it really is.
With everything going on, you probably have some things that you are afraid of. I would encourage you to step out of your boat and face them head on. God reminds us throughout Scripture that we have nothing to fear because He is always with us. So jump out of the boat with me and "cast your fear in the fire" because our fear can never speak louder than the Voice of Truth.
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