Radical Recovery

Wednesday December 31, 2014

Attempting a quadruple to loop, Olympic skater Jeremy Abbott swivelled into the air and fell. He careened into the rink´s wall and lay clutching his side. Amazingly, Jeremy then stood up and resumed skating. The rest of his routine included two extremely difficult, yet well-executed maneuvers. In the end, his perseverance after a serious mistake won the crowd´s heart.

Peter´s biggest error was predicted by Jesus when He said, "You will deny three times that you even know me" (Luke 22:34). The next day Jesus was captured and taken to the high priest´s home. Peter followed from a distance; but when a female servant identified him as a friend of the Saviour, he rejected her claim. Twice more Peter shirked any connection with Him. Finally, he recalled Jesus' prophecy and wept.

When Jesus predicted Peter´s denial, He also predicted that the disciple would repent and turn back to Him (v.32). Peter had a radical recovery from his spiritual mistake. After Christ rose from the dead, Peter zealously spread the good news. When the religious leaders recognised Peter and John as Christ´s disciples, they told the duo to keep quiet. This time, however, the disciple didn´t shy away from his loyalty to Jesus. He said, "We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard" (Acts 4:20).

After being flogged (5:40), Peter and the apostles entered the temple and went door-to door preaching "Jesus is the Messiah" (v.42). He also eventually wrote two letters to encourage Roman believers to live for God and "worship Christ as Lord of [their] life" (1 Peter 3:15).

Peter´s life proves that you can revive a radical relationship with Jesus even after making serious mistakes (Acts 4:13). - Jennifer Benson Schuldt

Read
Acts 4:13-20
When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. So they offered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together. "What are we going to do with these men?" they asked. "Everybody living in Jerusalem knows they have done an outstanding miracle, and we cannot deny it. But to stop this thing form spreading any further among the people, we must warn these men to speak no longer to anyone in this name."
Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God´s sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard."

Psalms 51:17
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart,
O God, you will not despise.

Titus 1:16
They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.

Question to Ponder
How would you respond if someone told you to "keep quiet" about Jesus?
Do you think Peter´s spiritual life was better or worse after repenting of his denial? Why?

**Article taken from ODJ (Our Daily Journey with God) Dec 2014 - Feb 2015 issue