By Mallory Mattingly
Atlanta Falcons running back Nathan Carter says Jesus wants us to come to Him, even when we’re afraid.
In a recent message he shared with the Victory Hamilton Young Adults group, Carter focused on Matthew 14:22-31, which tells the story of Jesus walking on water. After preaching to a crowd, Jesus went off to pray while his disciples got into a boat to sail to the other side of the lake. Later, Jesus walked across the water to reach the disciples:
Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
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“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
“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?
“Jesus says, ‘Come,'” Carter said. “He doesn’t say to Peter, ‘Try to walk on water if you can. Good luck to you.’ He doesn’t say to Peter, ‘Come when you’re not afraid.’ He doesn’t say to Peter, ‘Come when you get your act together.'”
“He just says, ‘Come.’ That invitation is to see whether Peter would trust God more than he trusts his fear. And the difference between Peter drowning and Peter walking on water depends entirely on Jesus and His word, because, get this, Jesus said come. He didn’t eliminate the storm. The waves are still crashing, the thunder still roaring.”
“Peter had to step out of the boat in the midst of his fear, and Jesus calls him out of the boat to come to Him, to see Him first hand what a little bit of faith could do”
“When we are tormented by fear, Jesus is inviting us to come. Jesus is calling us to Himself, to trust His word, to trust His authority and to trust His provision over our situation,” the running back continued. “The Bible says, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, he can move mountains, that nothing would be impossible for us, so Jesus calls for us to come to Him despite our fear. It really is a question of, who are you going to trust more? Are you going to trust your fear more, or are you going to trust God?”
Carter’s message reminds believers that faith isn’t about waiting for fear to disappear but about choosing to trust Jesus in the middle of the storm, knowing that His call to “come” is greater than anything that tries to hold us back.
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