Scripture

[Peter said] “I’m ready to die for you.” Jesus answered, “Die for me? I tell you the truth, Peter—before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me.

~John 13:38, NLT

Quote

God will go to any length to show us our depravity and to bring us closer to Himself.

~Elisabeth Elliot

I am fascinated by John Lawrence book on the nine hour time frame between the Lord’s supper and Jesus execution. A lot happened on that fateful night. Among those things was Peter’s boast that he would never deny Jesus and the fact that he did just that and not once, but multiple times. Lawrence believes that a close look at scripture will reveal eight denials. I believe there are three for certain, possible more but I question eight. Lawrence also says that Peter’s denial was not a lapse or a stumble but a deliberate sin. I do take exception here: I don’t think Peter had any intentions of hurting Jesus. I think he was sincere. He had every intention of dying for Jesus but unfortunately, his confidence was in his flesh.

It is true that he did not respond to Jesus mild rebuke. It is also true that he did not pray in the garden when Jesus literally begged him to pray. He is also guilty of not listening to Jesus who told him in the garden, “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” I doubt if Peter understood what Jesus meant. I see no willful rebellion in Peter.

I believe his problem is our problem: overconfidence in the flesh {pride} and fear. I believe fear is as big as pride. It was Peter who pulled a sword and went to wacking in Jesus defense, but that was also motivated by the flesh. Peter was ready for a sword fight but not ready for a spiritual battle. The power of his flesh overwhelmed him and he became a sniveling coward. Fear paralysed him. You can be hard on Peter if you want to, but I am telling you, this same thing can happen to us, and there is only one way we could pass this test–the power of Christ in us–or grace.

Remember Paul the great Apostle; remember Luke and friends begging him not to go to Jerusalem. Remember Paul’s response in Acts 21, “Why are you crying…I am not only willing to be put in jail for the Lord Jesus. I am willing to die for Him in Jerusalem”. Fast forward to chapter 25 of Acts and Paul before Festus. Festus to Paul, “Are you willing to go to Jerusalem and be tired there?” Paul’s reply, “NO! No one has the right to hand me over to these people {Jews}.

What happened to Paul’s resolve? He saw the hate that was in Jerusalem which he escaped only because the Romans gave him protection. He did not deny Christ but he was intimidated by the hate of the Jews and it  changed his entire perspective. I think Paul was overconfident, he thought he could do what Jesus did, but then he discovered, we can’t imitate Jesus. We can’t do any of the things he did without His power and enablement. He should have said, “God willing I will die in Jerusalem,” but he said “I will”, and that is usually a mistake.

Extra

I hope you got more rain than we did here at 1120 Iron Man. It was a very light rain when we went to bed last night and June told me that it was going to rain all night: it didn’t. We don’t even have mud in the garden. They have changed the forecast for today {imagine that}. First it was to rain all day and maybe flash floods and now we have a slight chance for an evening thunder storm. They have upped the percentages for tomorrow but I’m afraid that doesn’t mean much. I had my heart set on an all day rain.

Pray for the Taylor family.

Have a great day and thanks for reading the blog.