Pastor Bell's Words To Live By

Peter was introduced to Jesus by his younger brother Andrew. He was so passionate about finding the Messiah that he put his business on hold and spent three and a half years learning from the master. At the most pivotal point in Jesus’ ministry Peter felt lost and isolated. Jesus was arrested and would be sentenced to death and Peter’s whole world which was now constructed around the ‘New Messiah’ and the rebuilding of Jerusalem with a righteous king like David, was in ruins. So what does Peter do? He reverts to ‘his plan’. He denies that he ever knew Jesus three times (John 18: 17, 25 & 27).  And Mark records that he began to swear and curse when asked if he was a follower of Jesus (Mark 14:71). 

In times when trials and grief press us, it is easy to look to other sources for comfort and deny that we know the king of the universe, the one who produced the original plan for our lives. But although we sometimes ‘mess up’ remember that our God is a God of forgiveness and restoration. In the end Peter was forgiven by Jesus although he went back to resurrect his lucrative fishing business (John 21:15-19) and sent to do the greater works the Jesus taught his about in the early days. Peter became the linchpin among the people that turned Jerusalem upside-down and was instrumental in establishing the kingdom of the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth. How does this affect us? We sometimes shelf the plan the God designed for us and deny him. But today, allow him to restore you so that he can use you, warts and all, because it is in the plan!