Thoughts for another day

April 2, 2014.

Today's verse:  Lk. 22:61, 62. And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter went out, and wept bitterly. (KJV)

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

God loves us all, you, me and everyone to the same measure and there’s no partiality with God.  Yet, man is so crass that He goes against God.  Many also deny their faith in the face of opposition and we know of men who seemingly have dedicated their lives in the service of God, who run away when they’re needed to stay their ground.  You know, taking the Name of Christ and living for Him is no cake-walk.  It means being opposed to the ways of the world.  Hence, many people compromise and they feel God will understand.  But then haven’t they broken the faith God had in them?

Take Peter for example: he was the numero uno apostle among the apostles.  There never was an occasion when Peter wasn’t involved with Christ in His Ministry of three years and Jesus even announced that His church would be built on Peter.  He was amongst the first apostles Jesus chose, yet when it mattered most, Peter denied Him.  And this after vociferously saying he wouldn’t and that He was willing to give his life for Him too, when Jesus had predicted that he would deny Him.  If such was the case with Peter how will it be with us?  We too make tall claims about our unshakeable faith in the Lord, but when it comes to it, we could falter.   That’s because we’re weak and constantly need the Holy Spirit to strengthen us and keep us on track.

In our normal living too, we constantly deny or insult Jesus by our words and actions.  It happens with the best and without even sensing it sometimes.  The solution Jesus has for us is repentance.  In our Word today, we see that in Scripture when it says, ‘Peter went out and wept bitterly.’  He was so cut to the heart after he sensed how he had denied his Master that I’m sure he would have felt like a worm needing squishing and repented sincerely!  So too my brother we need to feel…totally remorseful and humiliated by what we did to Jesus, just like Peter; and then perhaps the Lord may appear to us and say, ‘….do you love Me?’  It will give us the joy of our lives.