The Place of Peter's Denial

 

 

I went to the very center of the room, adjusted the settings and laid my little camera on the floor. With the lens aimed straight up at the ceiling, I set the timer for a 2-second-delay and pressed the shutter. The result is this picture. It's the ceiling at the site of Caiaphas' Palace; it's the place where Peter denied Jesus.

I was proufoundly moved in the dim light of that lonely moment. I prayed a quiet prayer: "Strengthen me Lord. I am certainly no better than Peter. When I'm tempted to fall away, help me stay true. Make me a faithful disciple."

Unfaithfulness is disappointing.

All of us long for honorable relationships. We want those committed to us to to be faithful. We long for people to keep their promises. Even as sin breaks relationships, we still desire faithfulness. We want it. We need it.

I have good news.

No matter what, even when we sin and fall away, GOD remains steadfast, faithful and true. We can count on GOD. His unfolding plan of redemption and restoration intercepts our free-fall in sin.

GOD is faithful. 

If you've ever been hurt by unfaithfulness, whether your own or someone else's, I hope you'll remember what's true; GOD still loves you and He has already acted to restore you to a right relationship with Him (and with those around you). The Light of GOD's Truth "which enlightens everyone" (John 1:9) allows each of us to exercise our freed will and respond. And since sin is fundamentally about broken relationships, it's important that we respond.

GOD acts; we accept or resist.

It's important that we take our next step into new, redeemed relationships where we can demonstrate to the world what it means to be made right with GOD. That's a big part of what it means to be the Church, where every congregation is a little outpost of the Kingdom of Heaven in the midst of a broken world.

Respond to GOD's action. Respond to GOD's unmerited favor. Accept GOD's invitation. Celebrate GOD's loving faithfulness in an outpost of Christ's Kingdom this weekend. 

 

Matthew 26:57-58  -  Those who had seized Jesus led Him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were gathered together. But Peter was following Him at a distance as far as the courtyard of the high priest, and entered in, and sat down with the officers to see the outcome.