January 25: Of Peter and Hopelessness

Genesis 50:1-Exodus 2:10

Matthew 16:13-17:9

Psalm 21:1-13

Proverbs 5:1-6

The lies that work the best are the ones that have a bit of truth to them, just enough so that you believe them.  The lie of unacceptability before God is compelling because we know God's perfect goodness cannot abide any sin - and we know our sinfulness to be true.  So Satan, in his push to keep us apart from God, takes the sin we inevitably, persistently commit, and exhausts its value by citing it as example of our unworthiness before God.  So why even try?  Why even aspire?  He whispers "it's hopeless".  And so often we believe, and give up.

This is why I love Peter so much; strong, coarse, arrogant Peter, who hides his cowardice behind bravado.  Peter's like one of those old 45s - he has two sides, and he's easily flipped.  Consider today's reading: first Peter says something that leads Jesus to conclude that Peter is blessed.  Not three verses later, Peter gets a bit big for his britches, chastises Jesus, and gets called "Satan".  You can almost hear the whispered insinuation: "Why try?  You're hopeless."

The truth is, on our own, salvation IS hopeless.  Whatever atonement we make, whatever great revelation we might have, inevitably we sin again.  And again.  Which is why the story of Peter is such an encouragement…the next story we read, he figures prominently yet again…when Jesus, in His mercy, chooses Peter to join Him, James and John to witness His glory.  And when Peter and the others were confronted with their unworthiness at the event, Jesus came, touched them and said "Don't be afraid".

If you are anything like me, you go through these periods of wonderful high, when you seem to be living right.  And then you fall back into the same sins you'd thought you'd broken.  And when you do, if you are like me, you sometimes wonder if it isn't all just futile, just hopeless. The crazy thing is, IT IS hopeless.  On our own, that is.  But we can take heart from Peter's story today - from the highs of Jesus calling him blessed, to the lows of Jesus calling him "Satan"…to being invited to come see Jesus in His glory.  Like Peter, we depend on Christ for our salvation; like Peter, when we feel hopeless, we can hear Jesus say "Don't be afraid."