2nd Last Sunday - A Devotion

Devotion for 2nd Last 

Jeremiah 30:1-24       Matthew 26:57-75

Peter the bold, the brave, a braggadocio, "Even if all the others fall away because of you, I will never fall away!" (Mt. 26:33) He said it only a few hours earlier.

And this lesson from Matthew only 36 verses later finds Peter's bravery put to the test, his faithfulness to Christ is challenged, and He fails. He fails in spectacular fashion.

We sit in our chairs reading this text some two thousand years later and wonder how he could have done that. I have even had people boast to me, "Pastor, I just do not understand how they could have done what they did? If I had been there and seen all the things they had seen, I would have been different!" 

"Sure Peter! You would have been different!"

What an embarrassment Peter thought he was. He went off and wept bitterly.

What sin brings you to your knees in repentant crying? If you are honest with yourself, any sin you commit is a "falling away from Jesus." Every single sin is a denial that you know Jesus, that you know God! 

Yes, you read that correctly!

Are you a Christian? If so, you know the commandments! You know what you are supposed to do and what you are not supposed to do to be obedient to them. They are those things which proclaim your love for God and you faithfulness to Christ.

Me? I would like to say that I have never been as bold as Peter, to claim that I will be faithful whenever others fall away, but I cannot! I wish I could claim that when I am unfaithful, I weep bitterly. All too often that is not the case either.

What a joy it is to read at the end of John's Gospel how Jesus, after His resurrection, proclaims His love for Peter by commissioning him three times to take up the task of caring for His sheep. Three times for three denials. "Yes, Peter, your sin is forgiven! It is why I am now here on this beach speaking to you!"

Christ went to the cross knowing how we confess faith in Him, His Father, and His Spirit - and 10 minutes later (if it takes that long) we deny Him with our heart, mouth, or actions. He did it to purchase and deliver to us forgiveness.

What a wonderful thing it is/was to gather in His house today and hear sins forgiven, and to feast at the table He set in our midst, a table to grant forgiveness of sins, and heal broken hearts. 

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