Why Fear Grows When Your Focus Fades - The Story of Peter

We all know what it’s like to lose focus. If you lose focus during an eye doctor’s appointment, you see blurry letters on a chart, but what about when that happens in life? If you lose focus at work, you lose productivity. If you lose focus at home, relationships suffer. If you lose focus on your health, you pay for it later. If you lose focus spiritually and your eyes drift off Jesus and onto the waves, you start to sink.

What you focus on determines where you end up.

If you lose focus spiritually and sink, it doesn’t mean you don’t love God or that you don’t have faith. You sink because what fills your vision shapes your direction, and what shapes your direction determines your endurance.

We live in a distracting world. Notifications, deadlines, stress, and even good things – such as family, success, and serving – all pull at our attention. But when our focus drifts, our faith wobbles, and if our faith wobbles long enough, endurance gets harder and harder.

Where you place your focus decides whether you stand firm in the storm or sink beneath it.

Look at the apostle Peter. He left his life as a fisherman to follow Jesus and was one of the earliest and most important leaders of the early church. He was the type of guy whose boldness led him to act first and think later.

Matthew 14
22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, 24 and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.
25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.
27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
29 “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Just hours earlier, the disciples watched Jesus do the impossible. So why, just a few verses later, are they panicking in a boat? Why does their focus shift so quickly from faith to fear?

The difference was the stakes.

In the feeding of the 5,000, nothing was at stake for them. However, in the boat, everything changed. The Stakes were high.

That’s true for us too. It’s easy to focus on Jesus when the bills are paid, your health is in check, your kids are doing well, and work feels stable. But when the job is shaky, a health diagnosis is uncertain, or a relationship is strained, suddenly it feels a lot harder to keep your eyes on Him.

We don’t lose focus because we’ve never seen God’s goodness, we lose focus because the higher the stakes, the louder the waves seem to crash.

Jesus is showing them that He can hold them steady when everything is at stake, when they’re in a storm. The seas were not peaceful. The disciples were rowing hard and making little progress because the wind kept driving the waves against them. It wasn’t a hurricane, nor was it life-threatening chaos, but it was exhausting and intimidating, especially at night.

And who sent them there? Jesus.

Jesus put them in the boat. It wasn’t disobedience that landed them in rough waters, they were exactly where Jesus told them to be. And that’s challenging for us because we like the Jeremiah 29:11 version of God.

Jeremiah 29
11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

So, when God sends us into the storm, we don’t know what to do with that. It’s not to punish us, but to grow us. It’s to build our faith and endurance. Sometimes we think peace only comes once everything in life settles down. But notice what Jesus does and when He does it. He immediately calms their hearts before He calms the sea.

God often changes you before He changes what’s around you.

Why? Because if He doesn’t calm the fear inside, even when the storm outside is still, they’ll miss who He really is. If God becomes the muscle, mascot, or genie to fix our circumstances, not only do we have a faith built on our comfort, but we end up worshipping a God who exists to serve us. Ask yourself: Are you anchored to the person of Jesus in your life, or are you just hoping He fixes all your problems?

Peter hears the invitation to see Jesus and says, “Prove it.”

Matthew 14
29 “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.

Sometimes the first step is the easiest part.

The hard part isn’t starting, it’s continuing to move forward when things get difficult.

That’s Peter.

The thing that builds endurance isn’t just that he stepped out of the boat, it’s that he kept his eyes on Jesus while the waves and wind kept screaming for his attention.

Faith isn’t just about starting strong, it’s about staying focused.

Matthew 14
30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

Peter takes a significant step of faith, but then he looks around at his environment and is afraid of sinking. The moment Peter’s eyes drifted from Jesus to the waves, the waves didn’t actually get any bigger. The storm didn’t suddenly intensify. Peter’s focus was the only thing that changed.

Fear grows where our focus fades.

Matthew 14
31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” 32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down.
 
Jesus reaches out first, then He offers words of encouragement. Grace comes first, correction comes second. And it’s not scolding, it’s teaching. You of little faith doesn’t mean no faith. This is Jesus pointing out that Peter had faith, but has some growing up to do.

This phrase actually shows up in 3 other places in the Book of Matthew, and every time it’s not about people having nothing, it’s about people having enough faith to get started but wobbling along the way.

Jesus doesn’t dismiss him for sinking, He honors the fact that Peter was the only one who actually got out of the boat. Little faith isn’t failure, it’s the beginning of something bigger if you keep your eyes on Him and remove the doubt.

In this context, doubt means wavering between two options or being pulled in two different directions. And that’s exactly what happened to Peter. His faith was torn between two objects – Christ and the circumstances. When our focus is divided, we don’t do either thing very well.

But Jesus doesn’t abandon us when our eyes wander. He rescues, sustains, and reaches out in grace. And then, in love, He corrects us – not to crush us, but to call us back.

So, how do you actually refocus?

• Shift your first glance – What is the first thing you look at when you wake up?
• Call it out and call out to God – When fear or distraction comes, don’t ignore it – name it.

We keep standing not by eliminating every wave, but by practicing again and again, the choice to lift our eyes to Jesus.

Check out the video sermon here!