September 4, 2013 (Wednesday)
Many readers of this blog can recall reading in the Bible about Simon Peter’s denial of Christ (John 18). No doubt they can also remember his experience days later on the sea shore with Jesus after the Resurrection, when Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him. Three times Peter had denied Him, three times Peter was asked if He loved the Lord, three times he said he did love the Lord, and three times Jesus reminded him of his commission to serve the Lord (John 21).
What makes Peter’s denial of Jesus so significant to us is his steadfast promise only hours before that he would never do that. His sin, therefore, came as a great surprise to himself. He honestly and truly did not want that to happen, and certainly did not plan for it to happen. But it happened.
Peter was not the last follower of Christ to surprise himself by sinning. All of us have followed in his footsteps. Sin takes many forms, and slips up on our blind side. That’s the way the Tempter works.
The result for Peter was a broken heart because he had failed his Lord. He fled to a private place and wept bitterly. As noted above, he soon experienced the forgiveness of Jesus. We know how he felt. We confess; He forgives. Then He reminds us of our true purpose in life: to serve Him. Peter took that commission to heart, and a few weeks later, enabled by the Holy Spirit, preached a sermon so powerful that thousands responded by giving themselves to Christ (Acts 2).
When we sin, make no mistake about it, the Lord is always there to forgive us and give us another chance. That’s what He does.
“If we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness” (1 John 1:9 NLT).