Book Notes--First-Step Principle

God generally asks people to take a first step, to get their feet wet so to speak. Just look at Peter. Even though Jesus told him to come, he still had to step out on the water before he could experience water-walking. By this point, Peter knows a bit about the character of Christ and upon hearing Him say "come," he could have just decided that was enough. Peter could have said, "Jesus told me I could walk on the water, and I know He's a trustworthy guy, so I'm just gonna take His word for it. I'm content just knowing I can, I don't need to step out of the boat and experience it." That's not what Peter says though. He takes a first step out of the boat onto the water and his faith is forever changed.

Acquiring information is not enough, it is taking action that expands our faith. Ortberg says something in the book about one step of action being worth a hundred internal pep talks (or something to that effect). That's so true. I find it easy to fall into that realm of ever-increasing information and ever-diminishing action.

The first step is always the hardest, but in taking the first step we come face to face with Christ on the water. If you think about it, Peter was closer to Jesus, literally and figuratively, when he stepped out of the boat and into the storm. That thought is really bothering me. I want to be close to Jesus in the comfy confines of the boat. The storm is...well, scary and dangerous, but I guess that gives us an opportunity to see the power of God.