They say the best way to learn how to spot a counterfeit is not by studying fakes but by becoming intimately familiar with the authentic item. This is true for paintings, money and even clothing. Know the authentic and the imitation is easily spotted. It is even more true about our faith.
One of my favorite moments in Scripture, captured in the Gospel of Matthew, is that of Peter walking on water. Jesus had just finished preaching to and feeding the five thousand. He then sent His disciples ahead in a boat to the other side of the Sea of Galilee while He took some time to pray. His disciples struggled through the night as the waves and wind were against them. It was in their exhaustion, sometime between three and six in the morning, that they saw Jesus walking toward them on the water. For eleven of them the response was fear—they thought He was a ghost; only Peter responded from somewhere other than fear. Surrounded by the terror being whipped up around him by the howling wind and pounding waves he called out, “Lord, if it is you, tell me to come to you on the water.” In the midst of that chaos, Peter recognized the voice of his Savior and took the biggest step of his life.
Oftentimes when this passage is preached, the focus is on Peter’s final step and his sinking. To focus there is to miss the impact of his first step. Peter, in the midst of anxiety and the deafening storm, recognized his Savior’s voice and went to Him. As the wind blew, waves crashed, and his boat mates cried out, he heard, and knew, the voice of the One he loved and trusted.
That faith-filled step happened because he had spent so much time listening to Jesus speak, sitting at Jesus’ feet and living a life intertwined with Him. He was not going to be fooled or dissuaded from responding, for his heart knew the authentic voice of his Savior.
We live in a world filled with the storms of the enemy. Lies tossed about as truth on the waves of opinion are abundant and alluring. They bring with them promises of happiness and unity, but it ends in counterfeit joy. If we, and our children, are going to have the courage to take the first steps of faith toward truth we must know the voice of our Savior. That only happens by spending time reading His word, speaking to Him in prayer and fellowshipping with Him through worship. There is simply no shortcut…it takes time.
Are we taking that time? Will we recognize the voice of Jesus in the midst of the storm? The time is coming when we will be called to take a Peter-like first step. May it be that we have spent so much time with the authentic Savior of the world that we can heed His voice in the face of the counterfeit forces of the storm.
