FAILURE
TEACHES OBEDIENCE
Luke
22:31-34
“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your
faith may not fail. And when you have
turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
“But he replied, ‘Lord, I am ready to go with
You to prison, and to death.’”
“Jesus answered, ‘I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today,
you will deny three times that you know Me.’”
Peter sighed. Why
does Jesus always do that to me? he thought. I am
SURE about this! Peter thought
about the evening so far: This Passover
feast was incredible! Why did Jesus call bread and wine His body
and blood tonight? Why did He insist on washing my feet?
Jesus was saying, “It is written: ‘And He was numbered with the transgressors;
and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in Me. Yes, what is written about Me is reaching its
fulfillment.”
Peter always lost track of the moment after Jesus
corrected him. He remembered Jesus
saying earlier that the Father conferred on Him a kingdom—which He was
presenting to His disciples. Peter
wanted to learn more about that. But
now, Peter’s brother disciple showed Jesus two swords.
“‘That’s enough.’ Jesus replied.”
What
did I miss? Peter frantically
wondered.
My mind wanders too
when I’m corrected—especially in public.
Peter always showed himself to be a man of action. He acted first in situations, before
considering other options. Impetuous
[im-PET-u-us] describes Apostle Peter.
It means rash, impulsive, hotheaded, unthinking, reckless or
spontaneous.
When Jesus called-out his mistakes, Peter feels like a
failure. He fell short of expectations more
often than rising to meet them. It was
humiliating [hu-MIL-i-a-ting]!
We all can relate to the embarrassment of
failure. But, Jesus also gave Peter
hope. “When you
have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
Jesus prophesied that Peter would fail again…Jesus would forgive
him…and Peter would return to his brother-disciples.
Peter learned humility through failure by trial-and-error. He learned that his ways are way lower than
God’s ways. That walking-on-water incident
(Matthew 14:30) taught Peter to never take his eyes off Jesus. See the lesson linked below for more of Peter’s
failure lessons.
Obedience is not natural.
We learn to obey when believing correction is for our own good.
Take
Home Nugget
Peter’s failures taught him obedience because he was
eager to learn and serve God.
Luke 22:59-61 says, “About an hour later another asserted,
‘Certainly this fellow was with Him, for he is a Galilean.’
“Peter replied, ‘Man, I don’t know what you’re talking
about!’ Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked straight at
Peter. Then Peter remembered…”
God blesses those who choose repentance
and accept correction as a tool for growth.
Adapted from “Learning from Failure.” Dr. Charles Stanley. April 25, 2016. www.intouch.org.
J.D. Griffith
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