Whose Story is This?

Peter didn’t quit. If anyone had a reason to quit, he did. How unfit for ministry was he? A guy with a loud mouth and quick to act. Not only was he a disciple, he was the leader of the disciples. Jesus put him in a full on leadership position. Then he stood in front of a whole group of people just outside the building where the God of the universe was being put on trial and denied him because there was the possibility that he might face persecution. 

What if we put Peter in today’s church? A pastor of a large, nationally known church, caught on secret video denying the faith in a small group of people because he was about to be persecuted. We would have a media frenzy! The elders of the church would have pulled him aside, maybe asked him to step down or ‘take a break’ from ministry. He did, in fact, step down. After Jesus’ resurrection, where do we find Peter? Fishing. He decided he wasn’t fit for ministry either. Jesus had to go out there to get him off the water then ask three times if Peter loved him. After each “yeah, Jesus, of course I love you” Jesus had to remind him to get back to the job of ‘fishing for men’ that he had originally been called to. Three years of living, eating, and sleeping next to God incarnate, and Peter lost sight of his calling because of his shame at a mistake that he made.

Here’s where I like to catch up with Peter. He has a choice. Go back to his calling or go back to fishing. Does anyone know what he did? It was just him and some non-believers standing around that fire. No one caught him on video. No disciples were even standing around to hear him. No one had to know he screwed up. Not ever. Yet we still find this story in the Bible. Why? Because at some point, Peter realized that the glorious story of Christ’s forgiveness was more important than his own pride.

Peter could have blamed this on a lot of things. Stress, fatigue, fear, and after 3 years of chasing Jesus all over Israel and sleeping wherever they could find a place, maybe he could blame burn-out too. Heck, why not blame the whole situation on something else.

I see where Peter is coming from. I soooo get Peter! In my last post I blamed all my problems on Niger and shed some unflattering light on her. Ultimately I think we all know that it’s not Niger’s fault. My failure to give up pride and let God have control over me is my issue and can’t be blamed on anything else. I learned that in fist fights, sometimes other people who aren’t involved at all get punched, and they don’t appreciate it. Sorry I used this place as an explosion for my week of frustration.

Peter learned first hand that God speaks truth when he says “my grace is sufficient”. We can’t expect grace from others. Sometimes even Christians don’t give each other grace. But if God’s grace is truly sufficient, we can carry on. We can own up to our stories because, once again, they are the stories of God’s grace, forgiveness and provision, not of our failures.