Peter was one of the 12 disciples of Jesus and was a part of Jesus' inner circle of friends that He shared everything with. Peter was completely obedient to Jesus even though he was only a fisherman and didn't always Get It when Jesus was trying to explain things to the disciples. He loved Jesus and said that he would die for him even if every other man left his side. He had the guts to step out of the boat and come to Jesus on the water and God revealed to Peter that Jesus was the Christ and the Son of God. Peter was special to Jesus and He told Peter that because of his strong faith and conviction God had appointed him an apostle and told him that He would build His church through his testimony. Peter's original name was Simon but Jesus changed it to Peter which means Rock and He said that he would build His church upon this Rock.
I give you this background because something has been on my heart today and I wanted to share it with you. Peter was the one whom Jesus said that He would build his church through and Peter told Jesus that he would die for him and that no matter what happened Peter would never leave Jesus' side. Yet this same man, the one who told Jesus that he would die for him, denied the Christ 3 times like Jesus said he would on the night of Jesus' capture and must have felt the unbearable pain and suffering of failure and disgrace that night like nobody in the world has felt before. I was thinking about this on the way to work this morning. How easy it is for us to hang our heads and feel sorry for ourselves when we screw up or when we do something we know we shouldn't have done. When we let our families down and our friends down we feel ashamed and even if they forgive us we have a hard time forgiving ourselves and we let the burden stay on our backs for much longer than God wants us to. I got to thinking about poor Peter. How do you deny knowing Jesus even though Jesus forgave him and told him that he was going to do it in the first place? How do you get over that feeling of shame, disgrace and overall self-loathing that comes with denying Jesus 3 times on the most important day in all of history? Yet Peter went onto be one of the greatest apostles of all and did wind up dying for Jesus on a cross upside down because he didn't feel worthy to die the same way as his King. What must have gone through Peter's mind those days following Jesus' death and resurrection? Can you imagine the pain and suffering that he must have put himself through during those days? The guilt and shame of abandoning your best friend and savior must have been almost unbearable. I can understand Peter's thought process and the feelings he must have been having, the thoughts that must have been going through his mind all of those days. I know that when I have done things in the past I didn't want to talk to God because I was so ashamed much less go to Church and worship Him or Praise Him. I didn't feel like a son of God should feel because of the guilt in my heart and soul. But the funny thing is that God has already seen everything you and I will do in our lives and He has forgiven us before it even happens. God Loves us and He doesn't want to see us live in unforgivness of ourselves because it will eat us up. We have to realize that we are forgiven and move on in repentance, learning a lesson from it all so we don't do it again in the future. Peter must have had an awful couple of weeks, reflecting on the things he said and the way he spoke about his best friend and teacher but when Jesus appeared to the women and to the other disciples He told them to tell Peter specifically that He was alive. Before Jesus was arrested He told Peter that the devil asked to sift him like wheat but for Peter not to lose his faith. This is how I feel right now and the promise that I am keeping in my heart from now on. I am going to do everything I can to keep from sinning but if I do I will always come back to God and ask forgiveness, repent and receive the forgiveness that God has promised me as a child of His. He is our loving Father and He has forgiven us of all of our sins past, present and future. When Peter saw Jesus sitting on the shore while he was fishing in his boat Peter jumped out of the boat and swam as fast as he could to see his friend. It must have been the best time of his life because he got to see the love in his friends eyes and feel the forgiveness in his smile. From that moment on Peter was a great and mighty Warrior for God and as far as I know he never lost heart again because he knew that he was forgiven. We should feel the same way. May the Lord make His face to shine upon you today. God's blessings to you.
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