Before His crucifixion Jesus predicted that Peter would deny him 3 times (Luke 22:31-34). Although Peter adamantly denied that this would happen, he did deny Jesus (Luke 22:54-62). We are often hard on Peter for his denial of Christ but how often do we deny Jesus? How often do we fail or hold back when we have an opportunity to represent Jesus and the Gospel before people?

But the main point I want us to see in this story is Christ’s love, forgiveness and restoration of Peter. After Jesus was raised from the dead, he spent some precious but short moments with his disciples: in that time a priority for him was to restore Peter. He asked Peter 3 times: “lovest thou me more than these?” (John 21:15-17; KJV). The first 2 times he asked he used the Greek word agapao, which is the unconditional God kind of love. Peter could only reply with the Greek word phileo or affection, he did not have a revelation of the God kind of love at that time; that would come later (see Peter’s Epistles). Jesus met Peter where he was at with his third time of asking, “lovest thou me” and also used the word phileo; accepting that Peter loved him to his (Peter’s) fullest understanding of love.

Wow, what love, understanding and forgiveness! Be encouraged to represent Jesus today and seek to love, forgive and restore as he did.

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 “Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant” (Matt 20:26-27; KJV). To the non-Christian this makes their head go tilt. Someone once said to me that if you want to know what to do look at what the world does and then do the opposite. Jesus said greatness in the Kingdom of God is marked by servant hood or by having the attitude of a slave.

This is all about putting others ahead of yourself; dying to self and laying your life before the Lord (Matt 10:39). Jesus said he came to serve not to be served (Matt 20:28) and he exhorted us to lay down our lives for our friends (John 15:13). Paul was a servant of God and man (1 Cor 4:1-2) and Peter certainly encouraged the early church leaders to have a servant heart (1 Peter 5:2-4).

Servant hood is really the zenith and hallmark of humility. I love the words that John the Baptist said in regard to Jesus: “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). John knew his calling and was content to serve his God and fulfill his God given role of laying the ground work for Jesus; he had a servant heart!

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In Proverbs 28:20 (KJV) we read that: “a faithful man shall abound with blessings” and in Psalm 101:6: "Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me".  King David wrote that: “the Lord preserveth the faithful” (Ps 31:23). God is always faithful (1 Cor 10:13) even if we are not (2 Tim 2:13).

Those are wonderful promises so it behooves us to find out what it means to be faithful. The words translated faithful in the Old and New Testaments describe someone who fulfills promises and commitments. Simply put - a person who can be relied on.

We can learn more about this in the New Testament; Jesus calls the faithful servant in Matthew 24; 45-46: “blessed”, because they were obedient and conscientious. In Luke 16:10 Jesus said that: "he that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much".

Faithfulness is a fruit of the Holy Spirit (Gal 5:22-23). If we ask God to develop this fruit in our lives he will. We have to be open to the Holy Spirit to bring change in our lives so that faithfulness emerges and grows.

If we take our responsibilities seriously, we can be counted on and that is faithfulness. 

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Sometimes it is useful for us to stop and think about all Jesus went through during his arrest and crucifixion (Isa 52:14-53:12; Matt 26:47-27:56; Mark 14:43-15:41; Luke 22:47-23:49; John 18:1-19:37). He was abandoned and rejected by men, arrested, bound, blasphemed and given no fair trial. He was slapped, beaten, spat upon, mocked and treated with contempt. Our Jesus was scourged, with flesh torn from his back, his blood shed and his head pierced with thorns. Finally, he was stripped, nailed to a cross and pierced with a Roman spear, blood and water flowed out!

But for Jesus the greatest agony was caused by two things: (1) becoming sin for us; bearing our sins, and paying the price for our sins. Our sins marred his face almost beyond recognition (Isa 52:14). (2) Being separated from his Father by sin. Jesu cried out: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me” (Mark 15:34; KJV)?  

Through his death, suffering and resurrection he won for us forgiveness (Col 1:14), salvation (John 3:16), healing (1 Peter 2:24), right standing with God (Rom 5:17), eternal life now and in heaven (John 3:16) and so much more.

Jesus defeated satan and stripped him of all power and authority (Col 2:15). Satan no longer has any authority in our lives as Christians. We can walk in that victory (1 Cor 15:57) and the abundant life (John 10:10) that Jesus won for us if we chose to repent of sin and ask him in to our lives as Lord and Savior (Rom 10:9-10). Think on these things and let your life be changed.

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Proverbs 3:5 and 6 (KJV) are very familiar verses to many of us. "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths".

The word "direct" (Hebrew, Yashar) means to make right, straight, and smooth.

So, if your path of life seems to be going a bit off course, God can straighten it out if you trust him. The meaning of the word acknowledge (Hebrew, Yada), in the present context, is to know our God closely or even intimately.

There is a similar verse in Psalm 37:5: "Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass". This verse reminds me of 1 Peter 5:7 where we are told to cast our care on the Lord because he cares for us.

If we truly trusted God, which is what we are told to do in our first verse above, then we would know for sure that God would guide and take care of us. That confident trust and faith in God will make it easier to cast our cares on him. We need to develop that intimate and faith filled relationship with God. As the apostle Paul taught (Phil 3:12), this can only come by pressing in to him, spending time in prayer, in fellowship with him, and in his word. As we spend time in his word our faith will grow (Rom 10:17). As we press in, the way will become clear and God will take care of the cares and concerns.  

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