NOT GUILTY!
the Saving GRACE of God’s Redeeming LOVE
April 26th, 2023
What’s For Breakfast?
Matthew 26:74b-75, ‘At the very moment the sound of a crowing rooster pierced the night. Then Peter remembered the prophecy of Jesus, “Before the rooster crows you will have denied me three times.” With a shattered heart, Peter left the courtyard, sobbing with bitter tears.’ (TPT)
Perhaps more than anyone else in the Bible, I identify with Peter. Have my words, my mouth, my actions, my waywardness, my best intentions, deceived me on occasions too numerous to count! Even when I thought I was standing for Jesus, it turned out to be my poor attempts to protect myself and my sad representations of my Lord. I am as tainted about faithfulness and trustworthiness to God as spoiled food. Yet He still shows up. He still waits for me. He still pursues me. He still takes me back time and again. He still looks at me with as much love and belief, I imagine, as He looked at Peter on that shore in the early morning sun as He restored the one who had let Him down and greatly denied Him.
I also think that Peter meant to be as committed to Jesus as I intend. I don’t know—and maybe someday I’ll get to ask him—that he really intended to let it all hang out. I imagine if Peter would’ve thought about his words before they fell from his mouth, they might have been spoken differently. I’m pretty sure, if he had it to do all over again, Peter would not have denied the Man Who held his very life in His hands, Who loved him dearly, Who cherished their friendship.
Sometimes, our best but failed intentions become, later on, medallions on the cuff of our lives, when we eventually are able to use painful lessons instead as badges of honor to bring glory where glory is due—to Almighty God. Like Peter, I hope all my blunders someday will matter, will amount to a testimony which helps change the trajectory of other people’s lives. All the mistakes, Jesus gathered of Peter, and multiplied them for the saving of so many, bringing multitudes to Himself. I love that Jesus uses the messy and the broken, the busted and the misfits, to complete His salvation story, to redeem the Peters and the Michelles of this world.
John 21:16a, ‘Again, Jesus said, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?”’ (NIV)
God’s Loving Kindness Leads Me to Repentance
