Denial

27“You will all fall away,”Jesus told them, “for it is written:

“ ‘I will strike the shepherd,

and the sheep will be scattered.’

28 But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”

29Peter declared, “Even if all fall away, I will not.”

30“Truly I tell you,”Jesus answered, “today—yes, tonight—before the rooster crows twiceyou yourself will disown me three times.”

31But Peter insisted emphatically, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” And all the others said the same.

A quick post for today but I didn't want to miss this day. Today we walk through Jesus' prediction that before the rooster crows, Peter, one of his beloved, best friends, would deny him 3 times. As we know, even though Peter denied that he would ever disown his leader, he did. All 3 times. The text says that upon Peter's 3rd denial, the Lord turned to look at him. If you remember the scene from Passion of the Christ, it is just a gut hollowing scene. The look Jesus gave Peter wasn't scorn, or anger, or resent... it was a perfectly, loving, but sad look. From there, Peter grieved what he had done. In Jesus' great love for Peter, he didn't condemn him to Hell. He didn't punish him or make a scene of his disobedience. After His death, he returned to Peter and commissioned him to love His people. Peter spent the rest of his life doing great work for the kingdom of God. 

Man. I can relate to Peter. I don't wish hard times, or bad decisions, or innocent misfalls upon anyone..... but then again, I do. Sometimes I feel like we can't fully comprehend the depths of how much God loves us until we see how far he comes into the pit of our own destruction to rescue us, to redeem us. In my life, I've been..... well, an idiot. I remember the day that I 'met the gaze of Christ', if you will, and was completely awash with His mercy. It was the first time I had ever accepted it and understood that I didn't have to live under this blanket of guilt and condemnation anymore. I, like Peter, grieved, because I couldn't understand how God could love someone like me. Wretched, awful me. But over the years, I feel like God has commissioned me to encourage, tell my story, talk about Jesus, open my doors, my arms, my heart to those around me. HE STILL LOVES US IN SPITE OF OUR IDIOCY AND HAS AMAZING THINGS PLANNED FOR US. 

We've all messed up, we've all flat out denied God, we've all made poor choices, but our stories honestly make us relatable... they make us walking miracles and proof God's infinite love and grace. I pray He turns His eyes on all of us today and we are fully broken by the depths of His love. And when we wipe our eyes, we can say, 'Jesus, I'll never get over you.' Then in return, let's be commissioned also. Let's go love on His people.