Good Thursday morning! Around Easter we hear about Peter's three denials a lot. Peter has much to teach us about being human. All of us feel the urge to be strong; Peter did. When Jesus warned Peter that the devil desired to sift him like wheat, Peter strongly told the Lord that he would never deny Jesus. Wow, looking back on that event through years of pastoral teaching and Holy Spirit guidance we see trouble coming like a train on the tracks. How could Peter boast of his own strength that way? We do the very same thing with our self-confidence and self-trust.
In his first test away from Jesus, Peter failed - he scored a big zero. Three questions, three answers, and Peter blew every one. Later, Jesus would personally give Peter a retake of that test, this time with the Lord right there with him. Peter came through wonderfully. He not only answered correctly, but appealed to the Lord's own perfect knowledge. It may seem obvious, but how do you pass the tests in this life? Don't take them without Jesus!
A test we often fail is the one in which we are most confident in our own ability. Imagine self-confidence as you standing on a throw rug, rocked back on your heels, hands folded across your chest and nose in the air. You feel that you are the picture of self-confidence, powerful in your own talent and strength. The first thing you feel is the solid ground under your boot heels. However, anyone can see that you are already off-balance, just as Peter was with his "I will never..." statement. The next thing, you hear a devilish little chuckle as one of Satan's minions gives that throw rug a good yank. There's a reason they are called throw rugs. After you look up from the stunning blow to your entire backside, you wonder what could have happened; after all you trusted in your self?
Jesus spoke to the disciples, "You trust in God, now trust in me..." Nothing in that statement should lead us to trust in ourselves or in others. We are to trust in God first and in Jesus Christ, His Son. A Christ-one should be Christ confident. In Philippians we learn that we can do all things... not quite, we learn that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. From that verse we learn that we have no reason for confidence in ourselves because we need strengthening. We have every reason for confidence in Christ because He strengthens us!
Trusting in myself always gets me into trouble. None of us are trustworthy in our own strength. We don't come by trustworthiness naturally, the quality must be learned through the teaching and the strength of Christ. If I'm boasting, "I can do this", you might want to step back; failure is imminent. However, if I am confidently stating, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!" then great things are on the way. The verse from Philippians just seems to fit like a key in a lock: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me! Saying, "I can do all things!" just seems to clash with how many times we have seen our talent and strength fail and fall on their own.
Peter succeeded greatly in Christ, but failed miserably in Peter's strength. We can learn from this, hopefully before we self-confidently fall on our backsides.
Have a wonderful, Christ-confident day!
Bucky
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