Don't let failure end your story
The story of Peter's denial of Christ isn't actually about Peter's denial of Christ. There's a more meaningful message I think God wants to communicate.
Meanwhile, Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. A servant girl came over and said to him, “You were one of those with Jesus the Galilean.” But Peter denied it in front of everyone. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said. (Matthew 26:69-70)
If you’ve read the New Testament, you probably know who the Apostle Peter is, and you probably also know that the guy was a hot mess most of the time.
But we’re talking about resilience this month, right? So you might be wondering what open-mouth-insert-foot-disciple Peter has to do with resilience when he was constantly in trouble.
Peter’s denial of Christ is one of the most well-known stories in the Bible. I have always figured that it’s so famous because we all see a little of ourselves in Peter. We declare our undying loyalty to Jesus, that we’ll never turn away from Him, yet when push comes to shove, we run for the hills.
Let’s get really honest here, my friends. We will all be where Peter was in this story. We will all deny Jesus at some point in our lives, whether by our words or our actions. Jesus knows. He knows your heart. He understands human nature.
But I don’t think that the story of Peter’s denial is actually about Peter’s denial. If putting the focus on how Peter failed is the point, what can we even learn from it? We already know that we’re going to fail too, so why do we even have this story?
For me, I think it’s here because we need to know that failure is going to happen, and that we can still bounce back from it.
None of us can live a perfect life, but we don’t have to. Jesus already did that for us. We just have to hold on to Him for our eternity.
But let’s not forget that even in the moments when we let go of Him, He never lets go of us. That’s the point of this story. That’s what we need to take away from Peter’s failure. He failed, yes. Terribly. But that wasn’t the end for him. Frankly, it was only the beginning of Peter’s real story.
You are going to fail. That’s how life works. But you can learn from Peter and decide now that when you do fail, you’ll let Jesus pick you up again. Because He will.
Questions for Reflection
When was the last time you faced temptation and failed at turning away?
How do you think Jesus responds when we fail?
Why do you think we are so afraid to show Jesus our failures?
Weekly Memory Verse
