Pastor Bell's Words To Live By

Spending time in the presence of someone affects your character and your characteristics. For Peter this was certainly the case. Having spent three and a half years on a preaching/teaching tour with Jesus certainly impacted his life profoundly.  So much so that he actually began to reflect the image of Jesus. Peter began to talk like Jesus, walk like Jesus and also physically look like Jesus. It was Jesus’ intention that his followers would also behave like him, but this would come later.

Throughout his ministry Jesus went on his circuit with his final destination as Jerusalem. He prophesied this to his disciples and told them that he would be betrayed by one of his followers (John 13:21) and that he would be killed. But like us sometimes, we either forget the prophetic words spoken to us or we ignore them. Rather than reflecting on what Jesus had told them the disciples spent their time arguing about who would sit where in the kingdom.

When Jesus’ prophetic utterances occurred, Peter was in denial, so much so that he cut off one of the palace soldiers ear (John 18:10) and eventually denied that he ever knew Jesus not once but three times.

Today as we spend time in the presence of Jesus, let us remember that we will start to look like him. However, because of our falleness, there is a propensity to revert to our previous mode of operation. Remember that Jesus knows we are human and that we fail. So don’t beat yourself up, repent, forgive yourself and start all over again.

Read John 18 and sympathise with Peter!