Luk 22:31 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:
Luk 22:32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.
Luk 22:33 And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death.
Luk 22:34 And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me.
many times we look at the people in the Bible and in History and wonder how they could have done what they did.
They are in the moment facing peer pressure, doubt, fear. We have the luxury of standing here thousands of years later and in the comfort of our homes we can say "well golly gee why?
Peter walked with Jesus, the Son of God and the greatest teacher ever. He saw miracles, healing, demons cast out, and the dead resurrected. He even did some of it himself.
Yet he still doubted and failed Christ.
He still back-slid to the flesh.
He went to the empty tomb after the Resurrection of Christ. He went into the tomb, saw the grave clothes still do not fully understand it.
Joh 21:2 There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples.
Joh 21:3 Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately; and that night they caught nothing.
Not only did Peter get depressed and dejected, he took others with him.
Now before we get too down on Peter look in the mirror. How many times have you walked away?
How many times have you asked God where He is when you are the one who strayed.
How many times did you give up on Him, His Work, His call?
We did not have what Peter had. We did not have the Christ, the Son of God daily present in our lives.
Yet we do have more than Peter.. We have the written Word. We have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We have an established church. We have radio and TV which we can get our Word from.
He was no better than us, We are no better than him.
We can fail, we can fall.
We can quit on God.
Repeatedly.
I have had my times (note the plural use) in the desert, most people I know can say the same thing. At one time or another we have turned our backs on Him.
We have doubted, been depressed, dejected, rejected, betrayed, hurt, etc.
We have felt that God left us because something happened to us that we thought should not and wondered why God would allow such a thing. Again in the moment we do not have the luxury of hindsight.
Peter truly lost his life when Christ died on the cross, He lost his hopes and dreams. He saw a man he knew to be God, die.
In all his life, in all his knowledge death was the big finale. There was no coming back.
Peter relied on what he knew, that it was over. He didn't have Christ at his side so he fell. He doubted.
Despite hearing personally that Christ would rise again, despite knowing Christ was the Son of God,
he fell.
Despite knowing God, despite reading the Word, despite the answered prayers WE Fall.
We have the Holy Spirit Himself teaching us and we fall.
Peter is a great example of what to do, and what not to do.
He Fell, but then He had a come to Jesus moment literally. He stood and he was an effective witness once again.
Learn this lesson.
We will fall, we will backslide. We will lose our shine.
But there is one who sticks closer than a brother.
There is one that loves through it all.
Back slid is just that - a slide not a cliff.
Thank God salvation is eternal and full of Grace.
If you fall, stand back up.
If you slide back, then just stop the retreat and run to the throne!
If your light dims, go to the power source.
God loves you always, He will never leave. Even if you do.
Gal_6:9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
Luk 22:32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.
Luk 22:33 And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death.
Luk 22:34 And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me.
many times we look at the people in the Bible and in History and wonder how they could have done what they did.
They are in the moment facing peer pressure, doubt, fear. We have the luxury of standing here thousands of years later and in the comfort of our homes we can say "well golly gee why?
Peter walked with Jesus, the Son of God and the greatest teacher ever. He saw miracles, healing, demons cast out, and the dead resurrected. He even did some of it himself.
Yet he still doubted and failed Christ.
He still back-slid to the flesh.
He went to the empty tomb after the Resurrection of Christ. He went into the tomb, saw the grave clothes still do not fully understand it.
Joh 21:2 There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples.
Joh 21:3 Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately; and that night they caught nothing.
Not only did Peter get depressed and dejected, he took others with him.
Now before we get too down on Peter look in the mirror. How many times have you walked away?
How many times have you asked God where He is when you are the one who strayed.
How many times did you give up on Him, His Work, His call?
We did not have what Peter had. We did not have the Christ, the Son of God daily present in our lives.
Yet we do have more than Peter.. We have the written Word. We have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We have an established church. We have radio and TV which we can get our Word from.
He was no better than us, We are no better than him.
We can fail, we can fall.
We can quit on God.
Repeatedly.
I have had my times (note the plural use) in the desert, most people I know can say the same thing. At one time or another we have turned our backs on Him.
We have doubted, been depressed, dejected, rejected, betrayed, hurt, etc.
We have felt that God left us because something happened to us that we thought should not and wondered why God would allow such a thing. Again in the moment we do not have the luxury of hindsight.
Peter truly lost his life when Christ died on the cross, He lost his hopes and dreams. He saw a man he knew to be God, die.
In all his life, in all his knowledge death was the big finale. There was no coming back.
Peter relied on what he knew, that it was over. He didn't have Christ at his side so he fell. He doubted.
Despite hearing personally that Christ would rise again, despite knowing Christ was the Son of God,
he fell.
Despite knowing God, despite reading the Word, despite the answered prayers WE Fall.
We have the Holy Spirit Himself teaching us and we fall.
Peter is a great example of what to do, and what not to do.
He Fell, but then He had a come to Jesus moment literally. He stood and he was an effective witness once again.
Learn this lesson.
We will fall, we will backslide. We will lose our shine.
But there is one who sticks closer than a brother.
There is one that loves through it all.
Back slid is just that - a slide not a cliff.
Thank God salvation is eternal and full of Grace.
If you fall, stand back up.
If you slide back, then just stop the retreat and run to the throne!
If your light dims, go to the power source.
God loves you always, He will never leave. Even if you do.
Gal_6:9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
No comments:
Post a Comment