Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

“Come,” he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

Matthew 14:29-31
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I am a gal of reason.  I love finding out more about life, the universe, and everything (a quick shout-out to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy fans)-- discovering the ins and outs to how things work, why things happen the way they do, what is changing, what's staying the same, and so on.  I want to know the facts of the matter.

Maybe you are like me, looking for proof beyond a reasonable doubt.  That's the crazy thing about faith.  It's mysterious, miraculous, not always defined by the five senses or a logical equation that explains exactly how X plus Y equaled Z.  Sometimes it seems irrational, completely illogical.  But reason and faith are both on the same pursuit - the pursuit of truth.  I cannot explain the mystery of this grace, this forgiveness, except to share my experience and show the evidence of the hope that I have, to tell you that yes, it is true!

I can imagine Peter staring out across the water at Jesus.  A reasoning human being would argue the laws of physics.  Of course Peter doubted!  That's what a reasonable person does in those circumstances.  "Sure, Lord, I'll come... how about by row boat?  It's windy, Jesus, I think I'll stay here in my boat.  Don't you think you should be wearing a life vest?  Hey God, don't you see the waves?  Don't you know anything about the physical properties of H2O?"  I don't know about you, but I don't even want to go out on a lake in a boat when it's windy, let alone step out of the boat and try to walk on the waves.  Talk about seasickness. 

Reason looks at the circumstances through the lens of reality-- my eyes tell me there's water out there, what I know about water is that I can't walk on it.  But faith, faith asks you to trust in something, or someone, in spite of our instincts, to know and trust this guy because he has proven himself trustworthy and faithful.  He's the kind of guy that has proven to be so good and real and true that you'll obey him, even when he asks you to step out of a boat and walk on water.

That's faith.  Faith beyond a reasonable doubt.