How many times have we heard that we need to move forward in Jesus Christ, and let go of the comfortable place where we have settled? We need to get out of the safety of our boat, and launch out into the depths of His perfect will. “Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me” (Psalm 42:7). The depth of the Holy Spirit calls to the depth of a man and bids him, “Come. Step out of the boat, and launch out into the deep with me!” Do I long for His waves and breakers to sweep over me carrying me to new heights? If I truly long for these unknown depths of complete surrender, I must let go of all that has defined who I am.
How many of us allow our failures, pains, attitudes, and even sins that were crucified with Christ to hold us back? Christ calls us to let go of all that has defined who we have been. I must let go of what I consider the “security” of the boat. There is no security in the boat I have constructed. There is no security in false hopes and dreams that offer nothing in the end. That boat is subject to the waves and storms of life. That boat can sink. But I will discover when I let go of my self-constructed identity, and step out into the depths of the unknown in Christ, I am at last standing strong upon faith in Him, and not sinking into the depths of my own despair.
When I step out of that boat, I am so longer the child who failed at sports, or math. I am no longer the person who could not quite get things together, or a person who has been hurt because of teasing. I am no longer someone who lets feelings of rejection, whether imagined or real, define who I am. I am no longer one who needs the world to approve of me. I have found my worth in Christ. I am no longer a failure. I am no longer ruled by fear. I am no longer “not quite good enough”. In Jesus Christ I am a new creature—a new person—a new identity in Him!
In the book, The Shack by William Young, Mack stands on the end of a dock with Jesus, and stares at the surface of the lake. Jesus asks Mack to take his hand, and step off the dock, but Mack can't let go of the security of the dock. “So, why do I have so much fear in my life?” he asks. Jesus' answer cuts to the core of the issue. “Because you don't believe. You don't know that I love you. The person who lives by his fear will not find freedom in my love.” We must not be afraid to move forward. Fear will hold us in our own self-constructed boat! There is freedom from all that has defined us when we step out into the unknown in faith.
Each day step out of the boat and discover your newness in Him again and again. The old will fail you. The new in Christ will never fail. Launch out into the depths of what has been your uncertainty. You will find it the most certain thing you have ever done.
Lynn Hampton Lacher
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