The Peter in me
It is difficult to identify myself with the Apostle Peter. It is probable that when thinking about Peter, the first thing that comes to mind is when he denied Jesus. Peter was characterized as being impulsive, which led him to be reprimanded by Jesus a couple of times.
I might not want to be like Peter, but if we analyze his life, we see that he was actually a good example to follow.
- He gave up everything in order to follow Jesus: he left his livelihood (Matthew 4:19-20), and his family (Matthew 8:14)
- He knew who he was following: He knew Jesus was the Christ (Matthew 16:16)
- He tried to protect Jesus: He didn’t want Jesus to die (Matthew 16:22), and he fought against those who came to arrest Jesus (John 18:10)
- He recognized that he needed to serve Jesus, and not the way around: He didn’t want Jesus to wash his feet (John 13:5-6)
When we read all this we know that Peter’s actions weren’t always right. You might ask “what about when Peter denied Jesus?” Well, I think that this happened while Peter was showing his highest degree of faithfulness to Jesus. Confusing? Yes, but let us consider the circumstances:
- Peter decided to follow Jesus even after he was told he was going to deny him.
- Peter decided to follow Jesus even after the other disciples decided to flee (Mark 14:50)
- Peter decided to keep following Jesus even when he knew what was going to happen to Jesus, and what could have happened to him.
- Peter was following Jesus even before he received the Holy Spirit.
What does all this tell us about Peter? Peter didn’t understand everything, but He had utter faith in Jesus. He decided to set aside all his weaknesses and keep following Jesus. His faithfulness paid off as he became one of the most important leaders of the early church.
I don’t know about you, but after learning all these things it would actually be nice if there was a Peter in me. Not that I want to deny a Jesus, but I want to keep following him even in the worst circumstances of my life.
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