To Encourage You

1 Peter 1:3-6 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,  to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” 

The man who wrote the words above knew whereof he spoke.  Peter was a man who had learned through experience the truth that it is the power of God that had given him faith, and it was the power of God alone that had preserved it.  Peter would have never believed if Jesus hadn’t first called him and said, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19).  It was with those words that Peter began an adventure that would take him places he would have never imagined before that time.  Peter was totally transformed as a result of his relationship with Christ. 

In Acts 4 we have the reaction of the Jewish religious leaders as they questioned both Peter and John after having arrested them for preaching the gospel.  It tells us that “When they (i.e., the rulers, elders, and teachers of the Law) saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.”  

Yet, Peter had not always demonstrated such courage. The faith he had been given had to have time to grow.  And how did this happen?  By way of trials.  Peter THOUGHT he had such strong faith early in his Christian walk.  He was bold, impulsive, always ready to jump in with both feet, which he literally did once on the Sea of Galilee, walking on water, at least for a few feet – “But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, ‘Lord, save me.’”  It was at that point that we are told that “Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt?’” (Matthew 4:30-31). 

You see, Peter’s faith wasn’t nearly as strong as he thought.  And then we have the account of the last supper in Matthew 26. At the end of the supper Jesus said this to his disciples: “You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’  But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” To this Peter boldly answered, “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.” How strong he thought his faith was – stronger than any of the other 11!  And Jesus’ reply? In the parallel account from Luke 22 we have more of the story. Here we are told that Jesus warned Peter: “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, BUT I HAVE PRAYED FOR YOU THAT YOUR FAITH MAY NOT FAIL. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”  Peter, ever so confident, then said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.” And then Jesus said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me.” 

So, what actually happened? Exactly what Jesus said.  And Peter was devastated as he realized just how weak his faith was.  Yet Peter didn’t fall away, not because of his own strength, but because he had been kept by the power of God.  It was through such experiences that Peter was humbled, and through which he learned to rely solely on the power of God.  He knew that it was by this power that he was being guarded so he wouldn’t become an apostate and walk away.  

And that’s the way it is with any true believer.  Our faith is a gift of God. It is not of our works. No believer has any grounds to boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).  Furthermore, our faith doesn’t continue because we are so strong. Rather, we are kept solely by the great power of God.  Along the way, we will be tested.  Along the way we will be shown how much our faith needs to grow.  We will be humbled, perhaps even devastated, as we find out that we don’t have the power in ourselves to faithfully follow God. Like Peter we will slowly but surely learn how much we must trust not in our own strength, but in the power of God.  Paul learned this, as we see in the following words from Romans 7: “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.  Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good.  So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.  For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.  Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” 

You see, the walk of faith is a walk of humility. There is no room for pride. It is all because of Christ. It is all nothing more than a gift.  How grateful we should be for the saving and preserving power of Jesus. It is a power for which we should continually glorify him for we know that it is only by the “grace of God” that any of us can say “I am what I am” (1 Corinthians 15:10).  It is only by His grace that we have the incredible privilege and blessing of being called the children of God.