Thoughts for another day

April 16, 2014.

Today's verse:  Jn. 13:38. Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice. (KJV)

(Pls. read the above before you read further.  Thanks)

Many of us are pretty brave when it concerns things which have otherwise beaten others and we are all familiar with things like – ‘oh if I were there, I would have done this and that…how dare he question you thus, etc.’   But it is an altogether different thing when we face the real thing.  The context of our Scripture today is rather similar and most of us are somewhat conversant with it.

Now Jesus knows His time has come to bear the suffering and humiliation destined for Him as a Man on earth of which He gives a hint to His disciples.  And Peter talks about how he would do whatever he needed to do, to be with Him.  Peter is hardly aware of what exactly is about to happen and the intensity of fury of those in charge and the people.  He is yet to witness the tremendousness of Jesus’ humiliation and the soreness of His scourging.  That’s why he’s able to say he will follow Jesus, even to death!  That is when Jesus predicts his denial. 

The same goes with us.  We also make many promises to Jesus about how we will die for Him etc. and like they say, before the night is over, we’ve changed our decision and are now ready to give up on Him simply because a group of people threatened us when we took His Name to some place.  My friend, faithfulness for Jesus is signaled to the fullest when we follow it up with action.  See, our route in the mission world is fraught with danger and distress at every stage.  But there can be no compromise.  We may be used to compromise but God doesn’t allow it.  If we are for Jesus then we are for Him: Period.  Half measures don’t work.  It is best we stick to our commitment to Him and ask for His help all the time.  He will give it to us for when we do His work, He is very close to us and He will help in any situation.  And in any difficult situation, you will notice that nothing can happen to you except that which He allows.  We can certainly trust Him for that.