Failure!

"Failure! Loser! Waste of Space!"

Words that none of us want to hear, words that none of us want to think. Yesterday we read Jesus' prediction to Peter that he would deny that he knew Jesus, and we read Peter's confident assertion that he wouldn't deny Jesus.

When it came to the moment, this is what happened:

^"66 While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came by. ⁶⁷ When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked closely at him.

   "You also were with that Nazarene, Jesus," she said.

 ⁶⁸ But he denied it. "I don't know or understand what you're talking about," he said, and went out into the entryway.

 ⁶⁹ When the servant girl saw him there, she said again to those standing around, "This fellow is one of them." ⁷⁰ Again he denied it.

   After a little while, those standing near said to Peter, "Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean."

 ⁷¹ He began to call down curses, and he swore to them, "I don't know this man you're talking about."

 ⁷² Immediately the rooster crowed the second time. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken to him: "Before the rooster crows twice you will disown me three times." And he broke down and wept."  Mark 14:66-72 [NIV]

It may have been very costly for Peter to have said 'Yes, I've been learning a lot from Jesus' or 'Yes, Jesus is my friend'.

After all, Jesus was on trial for his life. But Peter did fail to do what he had said he would do – and this big man wept…

I may not face the same challenge as Peter, but how do I do when someone asks about my relationship with Jesus?  How do you do in a situation where someone asks why you go to church?  How do I do when someone asks why I live in a particular way (and I know that the answer is 'because I'm a Christian')?

Ultimately Peter will gain the strength to stand up for Jesus in all sorts of difficult situations.  Having seen Jesus risen from the dead, Jesus gives him a second chance (John 21:15-19).  Having been filled with the Holy Spirit, he preaches one of the greatest sermons ever preached (Acts 2).  And he goes on to be imprisoned, and ultimately to be executed for his faith in Jesus.

Peter's confidence moved from his own strength and personality to bedrock of confidence in God's strength and ability to empower him by the Holy Spirit for any situation he could possibly face.

And God wants for all of us to live in his strength and not in our own, and to know his Holy Spirit's leading and empowering – just think how much more we could all be and do if we got this in our lives at bedrock level.

Tim Norman

Read the Bible in a year: Proverbs 6:30-35, Leviticus 19:1-20:27, Mark 14:43-72