GRACE REDEFINED PETER’S IDENTITY

“When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you love Me more than these?’ ‘Yes, Lord,’ Peter said, ‘You know that I love You.’ Jesus said, ‘Feed My lambs.’ Again Jesus said, ‘Simon son of John, do you love Me?’ Peter answered, ‘Yes, Lord, You know that I love You.’ Jesus said, ‘Take care of My sheep.’ The third time He said to Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you love Me?’ Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, ‘Do you love Me?’ He said, ‘Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.’ Jesus said, ‘Feed My sheep.’” (John 21:15-17)

Right there, Jesus did more for Peter -- and more for us -- than we can imagine. Jesus was telling Peter that he wasn’t finished. Peter was going to be the rock on which the mission of God would be established and carried forward. Jesus was telling Peter that his identity wasn’t going to be a denier of Jesus. (See Luke 22:54-62 for Peter’s denial of Jesus.) He was going to be a hero of faith and a legend in the church. In fact, Peter would one day very soon preach the gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit, and three thousand people would be saved that day (Acts 2:14-42).

Sure, there were consequences to Peter’s denial of Jesus. Two thousand years later, we’re still studying the story. Peter’s denial didn’t get swept under the rug or erased from the memory bank of humanity. There were consequences for Peter, just like there are consequences to your decisions and my decisions, too.
 
Yet Jesus never focused on the failure. He focused on the restoration. Grace removed Peter’s guilt, and grace also removed Peter’s shame. Peter’s identity was no longer wrapped up in the denial. Peter failed, but he wasn’t a failure. He wasn’t useless. Peter’s life was no longer marked by shame. Grace redefined Peter as a friend and family member of God Almighty.
 
That’s what the grace of God does for you and me, too.
 
 -- Louie Giglio in “Don’t Give the Enemy a Seat at Your Table” 

#6188

DO YOU WANT HELP?

“One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, Jesus asked him, ‘Do you want to get well?’”  (John 5:5-6 NIV)

Who wouldn’t want help? Someone in denial of reality.

I imagine after so many years, the man at the pool no longer has a healthy idea of what life could be if he stood and moved about town and took ownership of his life. Time did its thing, but so did environment. He spent every day and every night surrounded by hurting people. The world was compressed to the bounds of those five colonnades that defined the pool at Bethesda. He wasn’t around too many healthy people, so unhealthy had become his new normal.

I watched a documentary about a thirty-four-year-old woman who had a three-hundred-pound tumor removed from her body. The tumor itself was twice the size of her initial body weight. It was a very horrific thing to see, needless to say. As the filmmakers documented this surgery, it was clear that they wondered why she had waited until the tumor was the size it was. All she could really say was that she didn’t get help because she figured it would go away on its own.

The tumor was unique, but the attitude was not. We figure that our finances will sort themselves out it time. But the credit card debt keeps piling up, and still we keep spending. The tumor is growing.

We figure our teenage daughter will change her behavior and get with the program. Meanwhile, she’s starting to cut herself. She’s beginning to fall in with a very unhealthy group of kids, and she’s moving further away from God by the day, but we decide to be patient. The tumor is growing.

We figure the problems in our marriage will fade away on their own if we don’t address them. Who says we need help? Just ordinary husband-and-wife-stuff, and it is nobody else’s business. And within a few months, we’re sleeping in separate rooms and he’s feeling an attraction to someone at work. The tumor is growing.

Jesus asks, “Do you want to get well?” Why not ask for help? 

-- Kyle Idleman in “The End of Me: Where Real Life in the Upside-Down Ways of Jesus Begins” 

#5973

THE RESURRECTED JESUS FORGIVES PETER

“When [the disciples] got there, they found breakfast waiting for them -- fish cooking over a charcoal fire, and some bread. ‘Bring some of the fish you’ve just caught,’ Jesus said.”  (John 21:9-10 NLT)

After His resurrection, Jesus appeared to His disciples on a beach, having made a charcoal fire and cooked their breakfast. Of all of them, Peter must have caught his breath as he smelled the acrid smoke. It surely surrounded him with memories of an awful night not too long before when he had stood shivering as he warmed himself by another charcoal fire (John 18:18) [when he denied Jesus three times]…

Now, on a beach, the resurrected Jesus was cooking breakfast for Peter and the others over a charcoal fire. After the meal, the Lord asked Peter three times, “Do you love Me?” Can you imagine how that question, triggered by his recent failure, must have pierced Peter’s soul?... Yet Jesus let Peter know that, in spite of his failure, Peter could be forgiven. What’s more, the resurrected Lord told him that He had special work for Peter to do…

Peter allowed Jesus Christ to forgive him, cleanse him from his sins, and fill him with the Holy Spirit so that he could serve his Lord powerfully. We can do the same.

-- Jill Briscoe, quoted in “His Passion: Christ’s Journey to the Resurrection”

#4313