When I was meditating on the subject of the secrets of a Victorious life, I started penning down what I thought were my forte —
1. Taking Decisions
2. Fighting Discouragement ...
I felt the Lord was laughing at me asking, “Is this how you came up to your present?” At first I felt flabbergasted and then in a minute turned pink with mortification. “No Lord,” I said, “I am what I am by Your grace and grace alone.” I sang, “Amazing grace,” and thoughts about grace crowded my skull. I sorted them out under three headings —
1. Getting Grace
2. Giving Grace
3. Grizzly Grace
Here I would like to draw your attention to GETTING GRACE. Grace is a free-for-all unlimited fountain, flowing from the presence of God. It never runs dry. Sadly, many of us, when we falter in our Christian walk, believe the lie of Satan that God is done with us and His fountain for us is dried up. We kick ourselves for our failure and conclude that Christian life is too difficult for us. Gradually we drift away from the presence of God and get lost into oblivion.
If there was one person whose life was too full of failures it was Peter. His life comes close to mine and I can identify with him in his embarassing moments. But the scoring point for Peter in all his awkward moments was that he decided to hold on to the grace of God and stick to Him like sticky burr.
At one teaching session of Jesus, many of His disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” “From this time many of His disciples turned back and no longer followed Him.” Jesus asked the twelve: “Do you also want to go away?” Peter spoke up a sentence that was the anchor for His future Christian walk: “Lord, to whom shall we go?” (Jn 6:60-68). That was the secret of his life of overcoming. He had many reasons to fall out but he was far from a quitter. If there was a Christian who had enough reasons to call it quits, it was Peter. He was impulsive, foolish, failed time and again and put to embarassment—yet every time he was enticed to give up the struggle, he ran back into God’s gracious embrace.
Let’s see some of his awkward moments and how he dug in his heels.
No quitting - No.1 — Lk 5:4-11
Jesus asked Peter to throw the net in the deep. Peter did not expect a catch. But because Jesus said, he wanted to throw the net and tell Jesus: “You’ll see Jesus. That net will come up empty.” For he had told Jesus in spite of their all night toil they caught nothing. Peter shrank to the size of a peanut at the results and wanted to run away. Rather, he asked Jesus to go away.
But Jesus showed grace by telling Simon not to be afraid. Peter changed his mind, left everything and followed Him.
No quitting - No.2 — Mk 1:35-39
Now Peter is a disciple (or student) to Master Jesus. One day he gets up from his bed, yawns and looks at Jesus’ bed. The boss was missing. He had got up when it was still dark, left the house and went off to a solitary place to pray! So the search party went and found Him. I guess Jesus would have told them, “Go, brush your teeth, comb your hair, wash your face and come. We have to go to other places.”
Peter got a whip lash. But his theology was getting corrected. Hard Master indeed. Get up early, work hard, go to other places! Peter decided to rough it up.
No quitting - No. 3 — Lk 12:41
Partway through a teaching session you stand up and ask the teacher, “Sir, did you tell this story for this class or generally for everyone?” And suppose the teacher ignores you and continues his teaching; how’ll you feel? The class will giggle and some student may pull your shirt from behind, signalling you to sit down.
Peter must have thought, “Was that a stupid question to ask? Why did the Teacher snubbed me in front of all?” But he sealed his mouth.
No quitting - No.4 — Mt 15:15,16
Peter said to Jesus, “Explain the parable to us.” Jesus was quick to chide, “Are you still dull? Don’t you see?” This is a beautiful English translation. In Aramaic He might have said, “Empty headed fellow, you should do your homework. Don’t expect Me to spoonfeed you. I expect you to be smarter.”
Peter fell short of his Teacher’s expectation. But with redoubled efforts he decided to go ahead to complete the course.
No quitting - No.5 — Mt 14:25-31
Peter, the daredevil, tried to walk on water like a new skater and crashed. “You of little faith, why did you doubt? ... Do not be afraid,” scolded Jesus. Embarassed and dripping, with the wind knocked out of him, Peter climbed into the boat. His friends must have kidded him calling him a loud-mouthed buffoon.
Peter’s failure was a success because he now learned a precious lesson that he should grow in faith and not be fearful. He was learning to take Jesus at His word. Later on when the Lord told him to go to Cornelius’ house ‘doubting nothing,’ he went doubting nothing.
No quitting - No.6 — Mt 16:17-23
When Jesus asked His close circle who they thought He was, Peter’s reply was instant — “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.” Jesus conferred on him a doctorate saying that it was His Father’s revelation to him, that on him He would build His church, would give the keys of the kingdom of heaven and gave him the power to bind and loose.
From that time on Jesus began to talk about His sufferings and death. Peter said: “Jesus, will you please come this side. What nonsense are you talking? This shall never happen to you.” He began to rebuke Jesus.
Now it was Jesus’ turn to trounce Peter and at point blank range shot him saying, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” Then He started to teach His disciples at Peter’s cost.It was no ordinary rebuke and was enough to extinguish a person’s will to live.
The rebuke struck Peter like a boxer’s blow. Peter would have thought something like the following: “How faithful I was. I had divine revelation. But Boss called me Satan. Am I a stumbling block? I faithfully stood by His side when so many left Him and this is what I get from the National Coordinator. If I don’t have a concern for God’s things as the Chairman said, why did I follow Him when He called? If my concerns were just human as the Director blasted, why did I leave all and come? I have no reason to continue in this Mission. I’ve had enough. I will resign and go.”
Now Peter had good reason to quit. His image was at stake. He would have had difficulty sleeping that night, replaying the events of the day in his mind. Slowly his senses returned to him. “How did I dare to rebuke the Master?” he thought.
Peter was receiving revelations from God and Satan. He had difficulty discerning. Now he was learning. When he learned lessons through his failures, his failures became successes.
Imagine Peter’s flashbacks haunting him! He must have decided to keep his dirty mouth shut in the future. But before a week had gone by what happened?
No quitting - No.7 — Lk 9:28-33
They went up the mount to pray. For Peter, prayer and sleep were bedfellows. Wonderful things were happening up there and Peter was caught catnapping! He blabbered because he did not know what he was saying. What was his reaction when he snapped out of his slumber? Quit? No, never. Peter decided to go through the grind and not relax his grip on God.
No quitting - No. 8 — Jn 13:6
Jesus gave an introduction that only later they would understand the significance of foot- washing. But Peter would not allow Him. Then he wanted the Lord to wash his head and hands too. When all the disciples accepted meekly he was a rebel.
No quitting - No.9 — Mt 26:33
Peter confidently declared that he would never disown Jesus. It was later disproved. Peter’s acid memories would have nagged him all his life. But he couldn’t press the rewind.
No quitting - No.10 — Mt 26:40
In the Garden of Gethsemane Peter’s eyes were heavy with sleep. Later on he might have felt guilty, thinking, “If I had prayed, my Master might not have sweated blood. He told us to pray and escape temptation. If I had prayed, I might not have denied my Lord.” It was one of the lowest lows of his life and the only thing that would assuage him was to move forward.
No quitting - No.11 — Mt 26:51
When the other disciples were waiting for orders from Jesus to fight, Peter drew the sword and cut off Malchus’ ear. What he got was a tongue-lashing from Jesus and a lecture. Peter was ashamed but consoled himself saying, “In my failure I learned a lesson that I must play by the Scriptures.”
No. quitting - No.12 — Mt 26:56
The time had come to prove his cowardice. Peter reneged on his promise, deserted Jesus, doubled up and then secretly followed the crowd.Grace was like a string attaching him to Jesus, pulling him after his Lord.
No quitting - No. 13 — Mt 26:69
The Peter who was supposed to give his life for Jesus, disowned Him, calling down curses. When the Lord turned and looked at Peter, it was not a look of condemnation but of grace. The unspoken message of his eyes was, “It’s OK Peter, I still love you; I have forgiven you; I have enough and more grace for you. Don’t be discouraged, hold on to Me.” It was that look that got Peter emotionally attached to Jesus, and the commitment paid off. However the tragedy left lasting scars.
No quitting - No. 14 — Mk 16:7
Peter is sleeping or may be having his morning coffee when the early birds knock at his door and give him the terrific news: “Jesus is risen!” “Impossible,” says Peter but dashes to the tomb. The empty tomb was all the vision he got. Then “he went away.” How he wished he had slept there outside the tomb on a mat for three days! At least after seeing the empty tomb if he had stayed back he might have been the first to see the risen Lord! I am sure he was never able to forgive himself for this insolence. Even my throat chokes when I think about Peter. He missed the greatest experience of his life.He might have cursed himself. But that was not the end of his career with Christ.
No quitting - No. 15 — Jn 21:3
Peter had come full circle around when he said, “I am going fishing,” Jesus was patient with him. He did not say; “What Peter, how can you do this?” But He called them children. Peter must have felt like Jona in the belly of the whale— cornered!
No quitting - No. 16 —Jn 21:21-22
Jesus told Peter, “Follow Me.” But instead of responding to that Peter asked, “Lord, what about him?” Everybody knew Jesus had a special liking for John. Did Peter feel insecure that Jesus might make John the leader and wanted to assert his position? Jesus said: “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You follow Me.” What a nose-cut for Peter! He might have thought: “Even after resurrection Jesus is the same, putting me down.” Peter was struggling to overcome his nature of talking impulsively, but meeting with failure all the time. Then onwards Peter never looked back.
Except John, all the apostles were hiding for fear and were not at the crucifixion scene!
No quitting - No. 17— Gal 2:9-14
Paul and Peter were the two heavy weights of the apostolic era. Let’s see what Paul writes about Peter is a highly charged language: “James Cephas and John, those esteemed as pillars, ... when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For, before some men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles, because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray. When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, ‘You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?’ ”
What was Peter’s reply? He just stood there condemned, maybe shamefaced and bowed. His well-timed silence was the most commanding expression. At this time the church had raised Peter to the level of a living legend not realizing that he had feet of clay. The booming church was captained by Peter and he was reprimanded as a charlatan in front of his colleagues, by a man who had come into the faith only recently. Peter was like the Pope. Juxtaposed to him Paul was just a missionary. Now Paul stood tall on a tough issue. It took a deadly confrontation to put Peter eye to eye with that truth — A dangerous cult was going mainstream.
After a formal eulogy that Peter was the pillar of the church, Paul dropped him down with a crash as a hypocrite and doctrinally erroneous. The encounter seemed to sound the death knell for Peter’s spiritual exaltation. So much for utopian brotherhood!
After all the years of growth and maturity, Peter was still deficient spiritually. What was his reaction? Did he feel like abdicating? Far from it. Why didn’t he react? He knew he was on the wrong and accepted it, though it was an insult to his dignity.
Peter would have prayed many times: “Lord give me wisdom. Help me to speak right. Teach me.” Yet he was struggling to surmount his failures and lead an unblemished life. These are the recorded few of his many failures and this excludes group failures of the disciples.
Yet, there was a maturity in him which, may be he himself did not know. As he was fighting discouragement and depression, a part of him was growing. He did not bite the dust.
Paul was growing taller and taller and Peter was feeling smaller and smaller. There was a time when Peter was in a fight with his friends arguing, who was the greatest. Now it was time for him to remember the teachings of Jesus that he should be humble as a child.
When the paparazzi dogged him, he gave all information about him for a permanent record. Peter must have felt rotten when all his failures were written down and circulated. Not the pain of failing but it’s the indignity he would have liked to avoid. Surely somebody must have asked, “Brother, I read that when Jesus was agonizing in Gethsemane, you slept. Is it true?” “It seems Jesus called you Satan, is it true brother?” When Peter’s life came under high magnification, it must have been worse than his own remorse.
The torrent stopped but the drizzle continued. Paul not only levelled allegations at Peter, to make matters even more galling, he wrote a long leter to the Galatians, mentioning the incident, took xerox copies and sent to all the churches in Galatia. So the controversy moved to centre stage. It was read out to all the congregations. No doubt the brotherhood must have sym-pathised with the beleaguered Peter saying, “Brother why do you keep quiet? Why don’t you concoct a letter about Paul and we’ll circulate it. The heck with him. Come brother, we will separate from this group and start another Mission. Paul needs a good bashing.”
It would have been easier for Peter to withdraw, nursing his feelings of victimization than to accept responsibility for his behaviour. Peter did wirte a letter mentioning Paul’s name. He was eloquent by what he did not say. “Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letter contains some things that are hard to understand,which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction” (2 Pet 3:15,16). Peter was more seasoned now and he had his wits about him. Paul became Peter’s “dear brother”! Peter’s love for Paul had grown even though Paul had left his indelible teethmark on Peter. He acknowledged that Paul was endowed by God with unusual wisdom. The fisherman Peter had read the letters of the academic giant Paul, adroit at penning and accepted them as “Scriptures.” Peter was not ready to distort Paul’s writings though he did not understand them fully and thus escaped destruction. So much for maturity. To sum up—Peter was an extraordinary ordinary man.
What happened to you Peter? How could you do it? Peter would have replied, “It is nothing but the grace of God.” If Paul and Peter got along well it was Peter’s gentleness. We know what a straight line Paul was from the bickering he had with Barnabas.
Peter never ever considered quitting. That’s how his life was victorious. God changed the mercurial fisherman into a model of equanimity and phlegm. He teaches us the first secret to a victorious Christian life. “Grace and peace be yours in abundance ... set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at His coming” (1 Pet 1:2,13). Peter was setting his hope on the grace on the Great Day and he urges us to do so.
Again he writes in 1 Peter 5:10. “And the God of all grace,who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.” He admonishes us to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Pet 3:18). Satan will whisper in your ears, “God has washed His hands off you.” Don’t succumb to his lies.
If we face judgment, it is not because we have sinned but because we have failed to run back to God. God is not shaking His finger in our face. God sees our struggles all too well. He does not expect baby Christians to mature and bear fruit over night. We should not be intimidated at our failures and end up defeated.
Paul and Barnabas gave some counsel to the new Christians: “Continue in the grace of God” (Acts 13:43). We were saved by grace and now we must continue in the grace. Keep singing “Amazing Grace” as you progress in your life of faith. In the Old Testament,the word grace occurs like a drizzle but in the New Testament it is a shower.
He who limps also progresses. So keep moving forward however slow it may be. God is whispering in your ears, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength shall be made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor 12:9). Believe that. God knows that we cannot make it on our own.
God gives grace to the humble (Js 4:6). So every time you err, humble yourself and repent. Look at your Father as a God of grace and receive grace for grace (Jn 1:14-17). You have to live life all the way through the daily round of up and downs, despair and hope. There will be no instant miracles. But a slow miracle will unfold over the years.
Never, never think this life is not possible and go back. Where did the disciples go who said this teaching was hard to follow? Nobody knows. But we know where Peter went after all his failures—to the pinnacle of Christian life! Yes, he acted hypocritically but God made him a teacher to Christians when he wrote, “...rid yourselves of all hypocrisy” (1 Pet 2:1). What accounts for the phenomenal success of Peter? His trust in God’s grace —in spite of the plethora of his failures!
God is sitting on a throne. The throne is called the Throne of Grace. So, let us walk right up to it boldly, confidently, that we may receive grace just when we need it (Heb 4:16). In the Old Testament also there was the mercy seat (Ex 25:17-20 KJV). But underneath was the Law. God said in effect, ‘I will give you grace but you must obey the Law.’ In the New Testament there is no Law under the Throne of Grace. It was crucified (Col 2:14). “If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law” (Gal 5:18). God loves you with no strings attached. Hallelujah! So, every time you trip, run to this marvellous, throne! And then — “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you” (Rom 16:20). Think of God as your friend, not your enemy.
Come running to God 7 times a day or 7x70 times or even a 1000 times and there is no way you will be defeated. The only thing you have to remember is that repentance is the doorway to grace. That requires honesty. Jesus taught us to forgive 7x70 times. Will He not do the same to us? Peter walked ahead in Christian life. So don’t fall by the wayside.
“He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for as all — how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? .... We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Rom 8:32-37).
We do the mistake of Judas by committing spiritual suicide by not running back to God. Each failure, each sin is a step towards triumph, provided you genuinely feel sorry for what you did. This may go on even for your lifetime. Never feel defeated; never think: ‘It’s over, that’s it, I cannot, I’m finished, I’m a total failure, God cannot forgive me anymore.’ It is a lie of the devil to mow you down.
What is Good News? Apostle Paul calls it the “Good News of Gods’s grace.” That is the good news! (Acts 20:24). So never, never throw up your arms and panic. “Many who embraced defeat,when they quit trying, did not realize how close they were to victory,” says Thomas Alva Edison. May be Peter’s life is akin to yours and may be God is going to make your’s a beacon of light in a dark world as He did Peter’s. ‘So long as I am still fighting for something I haven’t lost yet. It is only when I give up that I lose, said someone. Christian life is an uphill task.Keep climbing.
“Our God is a God of love and not hate, of freedom and not rules, of grace and not judgment”— Philip Yancy.
Dr. Lilian Stanley
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Vellore 632006, India
+91 9843511943
lilianstanley@gmail.com
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When I was meditating on the subject of the secrets of a Victorious life, I started penning down what I thought were my forte —
1. Taking Decisions
2. Fighting Discouragement ...
I felt the Lord was laughing at me asking, “Is this how you came up to your present?” At first I felt flabbergasted and then in a minute turned pink with mortification. “No Lord,” I said, “I am what I am by Your grace and grace alone.” I sang, “Amazing grace,” and thoughts about grace crowded my skull. I sorted them out under three headings —
1. Getting Grace
2. Giving Grace
3. Grizzly Grace
Here I would like to draw your attention to GETTING GRACE. Grace is a free-for-all unlimited fountain, flowing from the presence of God. It never runs dry. Sadly, many of us, when we falter in our Christian walk, believe the lie of Satan that God is done with us and His fountain for us is dried up. We kick ourselves for our failure and conclude that Christian life is too difficult for us. Gradually we drift away from the presence of God and get lost into oblivion.
If there was one person whose life was too full of failures it was Peter. His life comes close to mine and I can identify with him in his embarassing moments. But the scoring point for Peter in all his awkward moments was that he decided to hold on to the grace of God and stick to Him like sticky burr.
At one teaching session of Jesus, many of His disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” “From this time many of His disciples turned back and no longer followed Him.” Jesus asked the twelve: “Do you also want to go away?” Peter spoke up a sentence that was the anchor for His future Christian walk: “Lord, to whom shall we go?” (Jn 6:60-68). That was the secret of his life of overcoming. He had many reasons to fall out but he was far from a quitter. If there was a Christian who had enough reasons to call it quits, it was Peter. He was impulsive, foolish, failed time and again and put to embarassment—yet every time he was enticed to give up the struggle, he ran back into God’s gracious embrace.
Let’s see some of his awkward moments and how he dug in his heels.
No quitting - No.1 — Lk 5:4-11
Jesus asked Peter to throw the net in the deep. Peter did not expect a catch. But because Jesus said, he wanted to throw the net and tell Jesus: “You’ll see Jesus. That net will come up empty.” For he had told Jesus in spite of their all night toil they caught nothing. Peter shrank to the size of a peanut at the results and wanted to run away. Rather, he asked Jesus to go away.
But Jesus showed grace by telling Simon not to be afraid. Peter changed his mind, left everything and followed Him.
No quitting - No.2 — Mk 1:35-39
Now Peter is a disciple (or student) to Master Jesus. One day he gets up from his bed, yawns and looks at Jesus’ bed. The boss was missing. He had got up when it was still dark, left the house and went off to a solitary place to pray! So the search party went and found Him. I guess Jesus would have told them, “Go, brush your teeth, comb your hair, wash your face and come. We have to go to other places.”
Peter got a whip lash. But his theology was getting corrected. Hard Master indeed. Get up early, work hard, go to other places! Peter decided to rough it up.
No quitting - No. 3 — Lk 12:41
Partway through a teaching session you stand up and ask the teacher, “Sir, did you tell this story for this class or generally for everyone?” And suppose the teacher ignores you and continues his teaching; how’ll you feel? The class will giggle and some student may pull your shirt from behind, signalling you to sit down.
Peter must have thought, “Was that a stupid question to ask? Why did the Teacher snubbed me in front of all?” But he sealed his mouth.
No quitting - No.4 — Mt 15:15,16
Peter said to Jesus, “Explain the parable to us.” Jesus was quick to chide, “Are you still dull? Don’t you see?” This is a beautiful English translation. In Aramaic He might have said, “Empty headed fellow, you should do your homework. Don’t expect Me to spoonfeed you. I expect you to be smarter.”
Peter fell short of his Teacher’s expectation. But with redoubled efforts he decided to go ahead to complete the course.
No quitting - No.5 — Mt 14:25-31
Peter, the daredevil, tried to walk on water like a new skater and crashed. “You of little faith, why did you doubt? ... Do not be afraid,” scolded Jesus. Embarassed and dripping, with the wind knocked out of him, Peter climbed into the boat. His friends must have kidded him calling him a loud-mouthed buffoon.
Peter’s failure was a success because he now learned a precious lesson that he should grow in faith and not be fearful. He was learning to take Jesus at His word. Later on when the Lord told him to go to Cornelius’ house ‘doubting nothing,’ he went doubting nothing.
No quitting - No.6 — Mt 16:17-23
When Jesus asked His close circle who they thought He was, Peter’s reply was instant — “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.” Jesus conferred on him a doctorate saying that it was His Father’s revelation to him, that on him He would build His church, would give the keys of the kingdom of heaven and gave him the power to bind and loose.
From that time on Jesus began to talk about His sufferings and death. Peter said: “Jesus, will you please come this side. What nonsense are you talking? This shall never happen to you.” He began to rebuke Jesus.
Now it was Jesus’ turn to trounce Peter and at point blank range shot him saying, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” Then He started to teach His disciples at Peter’s cost.It was no ordinary rebuke and was enough to extinguish a person’s will to live.
The rebuke struck Peter like a boxer’s blow. Peter would have thought something like the following: “How faithful I was. I had divine revelation. But Boss called me Satan. Am I a stumbling block? I faithfully stood by His side when so many left Him and this is what I get from the National Coordinator. If I don’t have a concern for God’s things as the Chairman said, why did I follow Him when He called? If my concerns were just human as the Director blasted, why did I leave all and come? I have no reason to continue in this Mission. I’ve had enough. I will resign and go.”
Now Peter had good reason to quit. His image was at stake. He would have had difficulty sleeping that night, replaying the events of the day in his mind. Slowly his senses returned to him. “How did I dare to rebuke the Master?” he thought.
Peter was receiving revelations from God and Satan. He had difficulty discerning. Now he was learning. When he learned lessons through his failures, his failures became successes.
Imagine Peter’s flashbacks haunting him! He must have decided to keep his dirty mouth shut in the future. But before a week had gone by what happened?
No quitting - No.7 — Lk 9:28-33
They went up the mount to pray. For Peter, prayer and sleep were bedfellows. Wonderful things were happening up there and Peter was caught catnapping! He blabbered because he did not know what he was saying. What was his reaction when he snapped out of his slumber? Quit? No, never. Peter decided to go through the grind and not relax his grip on God.
No quitting - No. 8 — Jn 13:6
Jesus gave an introduction that only later they would understand the significance of foot- washing. But Peter would not allow Him. Then he wanted the Lord to wash his head and hands too. When all the disciples accepted meekly he was a rebel.
No quitting - No.9 — Mt 26:33
Peter confidently declared that he would never disown Jesus. It was later disproved. Peter’s acid memories would have nagged him all his life. But he couldn’t press the rewind.
No quitting - No.10 — Mt 26:40
In the Garden of Gethsemane Peter’s eyes were heavy with sleep. Later on he might have felt guilty, thinking, “If I had prayed, my Master might not have sweated blood. He told us to pray and escape temptation. If I had prayed, I might not have denied my Lord.” It was one of the lowest lows of his life and the only thing that would assuage him was to move forward.
No quitting - No.11 — Mt 26:51
When the other disciples were waiting for orders from Jesus to fight, Peter drew the sword and cut off Malchus’ ear. What he got was a tongue-lashing from Jesus and a lecture. Peter was ashamed but consoled himself saying, “In my failure I learned a lesson that I must play by the Scriptures.”
No. quitting - No.12 — Mt 26:56
The time had come to prove his cowardice. Peter reneged on his promise, deserted Jesus, doubled up and then secretly followed the crowd.Grace was like a string attaching him to Jesus, pulling him after his Lord.
No quitting - No. 13 — Mt 26:69
The Peter who was supposed to give his life for Jesus, disowned Him, calling down curses. When the Lord turned and looked at Peter, it was not a look of condemnation but of grace. The unspoken message of his eyes was, “It’s OK Peter, I still love you; I have forgiven you; I have enough and more grace for you. Don’t be discouraged, hold on to Me.” It was that look that got Peter emotionally attached to Jesus, and the commitment paid off. However the tragedy left lasting scars.
No quitting - No. 14 — Mk 16:7
Peter is sleeping or may be having his morning coffee when the early birds knock at his door and give him the terrific news: “Jesus is risen!” “Impossible,” says Peter but dashes to the tomb. The empty tomb was all the vision he got. Then “he went away.” How he wished he had slept there outside the tomb on a mat for three days! At least after seeing the empty tomb if he had stayed back he might have been the first to see the risen Lord! I am sure he was never able to forgive himself for this insolence. Even my throat chokes when I think about Peter. He missed the greatest experience of his life.He might have cursed himself. But that was not the end of his career with Christ.
No quitting - No. 15 — Jn 21:3
Peter had come full circle around when he said, “I am going fishing,” Jesus was patient with him. He did not say; “What Peter, how can you do this?” But He called them children. Peter must have felt like Jona in the belly of the whale— cornered!
No quitting - No. 16 —Jn 21:21-22
Jesus told Peter, “Follow Me.” But instead of responding to that Peter asked, “Lord, what about him?” Everybody knew Jesus had a special liking for John. Did Peter feel insecure that Jesus might make John the leader and wanted to assert his position? Jesus said: “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You follow Me.” What a nose-cut for Peter! He might have thought: “Even after resurrection Jesus is the same, putting me down.” Peter was struggling to overcome his nature of talking impulsively, but meeting with failure all the time. Then onwards Peter never looked back.
Except John, all the apostles were hiding for fear and were not at the crucifixion scene!
No quitting - No. 17— Gal 2:9-14
Paul and Peter were the two heavy weights of the apostolic era. Let’s see what Paul writes about Peter is a highly charged language: “James Cephas and John, those esteemed as pillars, ... when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For, before some men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles, because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray. When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, ‘You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?’ ”
What was Peter’s reply? He just stood there condemned, maybe shamefaced and bowed. His well-timed silence was the most commanding expression. At this time the church had raised Peter to the level of a living legend not realizing that he had feet of clay. The booming church was captained by Peter and he was reprimanded as a charlatan in front of his colleagues, by a man who had come into the faith only recently. Peter was like the Pope. Juxtaposed to him Paul was just a missionary. Now Paul stood tall on a tough issue. It took a deadly confrontation to put Peter eye to eye with that truth — A dangerous cult was going mainstream.
After a formal eulogy that Peter was the pillar of the church, Paul dropped him down with a crash as a hypocrite and doctrinally erroneous. The encounter seemed to sound the death knell for Peter’s spiritual exaltation. So much for utopian brotherhood!
After all the years of growth and maturity, Peter was still deficient spiritually. What was his reaction? Did he feel like abdicating? Far from it. Why didn’t he react? He knew he was on the wrong and accepted it, though it was an insult to his dignity.
Peter would have prayed many times: “Lord give me wisdom. Help me to speak right. Teach me.” Yet he was struggling to surmount his failures and lead an unblemished life. These are the recorded few of his many failures and this excludes group failures of the disciples.
Yet, there was a maturity in him which, may be he himself did not know. As he was fighting discouragement and depression, a part of him was growing. He did not bite the dust.
Paul was growing taller and taller and Peter was feeling smaller and smaller. There was a time when Peter was in a fight with his friends arguing, who was the greatest. Now it was time for him to remember the teachings of Jesus that he should be humble as a child.
When the paparazzi dogged him, he gave all information about him for a permanent record. Peter must have felt rotten when all his failures were written down and circulated. Not the pain of failing but it’s the indignity he would have liked to avoid. Surely somebody must have asked, “Brother, I read that when Jesus was agonizing in Gethsemane, you slept. Is it true?” “It seems Jesus called you Satan, is it true brother?” When Peter’s life came under high magnification, it must have been worse than his own remorse.
The torrent stopped but the drizzle continued. Paul not only levelled allegations at Peter, to make matters even more galling, he wrote a long leter to the Galatians, mentioning the incident, took xerox copies and sent to all the churches in Galatia. So the controversy moved to centre stage. It was read out to all the congregations. No doubt the brotherhood must have sym-pathised with the beleaguered Peter saying, “Brother why do you keep quiet? Why don’t you concoct a letter about Paul and we’ll circulate it. The heck with him. Come brother, we will separate from this group and start another Mission. Paul needs a good bashing.”
It would have been easier for Peter to withdraw, nursing his feelings of victimization than to accept responsibility for his behaviour. Peter did wirte a letter mentioning Paul’s name. He was eloquent by what he did not say. “Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letter contains some things that are hard to understand,which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction” (2 Pet 3:15,16). Peter was more seasoned now and he had his wits about him. Paul became Peter’s “dear brother”! Peter’s love for Paul had grown even though Paul had left his indelible teethmark on Peter. He acknowledged that Paul was endowed by God with unusual wisdom. The fisherman Peter had read the letters of the academic giant Paul, adroit at penning and accepted them as “Scriptures.” Peter was not ready to distort Paul’s writings though he did not understand them fully and thus escaped destruction. So much for maturity. To sum up—Peter was an extraordinary ordinary man.
What happened to you Peter? How could you do it? Peter would have replied, “It is nothing but the grace of God.” If Paul and Peter got along well it was Peter’s gentleness. We know what a straight line Paul was from the bickering he had with Barnabas.
Peter never ever considered quitting. That’s how his life was victorious. God changed the mercurial fisherman into a model of equanimity and phlegm. He teaches us the first secret to a victorious Christian life. “Grace and peace be yours in abundance ... set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at His coming” (1 Pet 1:2,13). Peter was setting his hope on the grace on the Great Day and he urges us to do so.
Again he writes in 1 Peter 5:10. “And the God of all grace,who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.” He admonishes us to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Pet 3:18). Satan will whisper in your ears, “God has washed His hands off you.” Don’t succumb to his lies.
If we face judgment, it is not because we have sinned but because we have failed to run back to God. God is not shaking His finger in our face. God sees our struggles all too well. He does not expect baby Christians to mature and bear fruit over night. We should not be intimidated at our failures and end up defeated.
Paul and Barnabas gave some counsel to the new Christians: “Continue in the grace of God” (Acts 13:43). We were saved by grace and now we must continue in the grace. Keep singing “Amazing Grace” as you progress in your life of faith. In the Old Testament,the word grace occurs like a drizzle but in the New Testament it is a shower.
He who limps also progresses. So keep moving forward however slow it may be. God is whispering in your ears, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength shall be made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor 12:9). Believe that. God knows that we cannot make it on our own.
God gives grace to the humble (Js 4:6). So every time you err, humble yourself and repent. Look at your Father as a God of grace and receive grace for grace (Jn 1:14-17). You have to live life all the way through the daily round of up and downs, despair and hope. There will be no instant miracles. But a slow miracle will unfold over the years.
Never, never think this life is not possible and go back. Where did the disciples go who said this teaching was hard to follow? Nobody knows. But we know where Peter went after all his failures—to the pinnacle of Christian life! Yes, he acted hypocritically but God made him a teacher to Christians when he wrote, “...rid yourselves of all hypocrisy” (1 Pet 2:1). What accounts for the phenomenal success of Peter? His trust in God’s grace —in spite of the plethora of his failures!
God is sitting on a throne. The throne is called the Throne of Grace. So, let us walk right up to it boldly, confidently, that we may receive grace just when we need it (Heb 4:16). In the Old Testament also there was the mercy seat (Ex 25:17-20 KJV). But underneath was the Law. God said in effect, ‘I will give you grace but you must obey the Law.’ In the New Testament there is no Law under the Throne of Grace. It was crucified (Col 2:14). “If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law” (Gal 5:18). God loves you with no strings attached. Hallelujah! So, every time you trip, run to this marvellous, throne! And then — “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you” (Rom 16:20). Think of God as your friend, not your enemy.
Come running to God 7 times a day or 7x70 times or even a 1000 times and there is no way you will be defeated. The only thing you have to remember is that repentance is the doorway to grace. That requires honesty. Jesus taught us to forgive 7x70 times. Will He not do the same to us? Peter walked ahead in Christian life. So don’t fall by the wayside.
“He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for as all — how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? .... We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Rom 8:32-37).
We do the mistake of Judas by committing spiritual suicide by not running back to God. Each failure, each sin is a step towards triumph, provided you genuinely feel sorry for what you did. This may go on even for your lifetime. Never feel defeated; never think: ‘It’s over, that’s it, I cannot, I’m finished, I’m a total failure, God cannot forgive me anymore.’ It is a lie of the devil to mow you down.
What is Good News? Apostle Paul calls it the “Good News of Gods’s grace.” That is the good news! (Acts 20:24). So never, never throw up your arms and panic. “Many who embraced defeat,when they quit trying, did not realize how close they were to victory,” says Thomas Alva Edison. May be Peter’s life is akin to yours and may be God is going to make your’s a beacon of light in a dark world as He did Peter’s. ‘So long as I am still fighting for something I haven’t lost yet. It is only when I give up that I lose, said someone. Christian life is an uphill task.Keep climbing.
“Our God is a God of love and not hate, of freedom and not rules, of grace and not judgment”— Philip Yancy.
Dr. Lilian Stanley
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Vellore 632006, India
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lilianstanley@gmail.com
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