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Take Heed
Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall 1 Corinthians 10:12. Everybody loves a winner. This is especially true of someone who succeed through hard work and diligence; perhaps beating all of the odds. They hung in there against intense opposition until they made it. Yes, we admire a winner, but if we could see the struggles, we would appreciate them even more. Success does not mean there weren’t any failures or losses. It means that the thing I am pursuing is so great and important to me, I won’t quit no matter what. People quit because they give up and surrender. They decide that they have lost control and can no longer see themselves possessing the prize. They say in their heart that the hope of victory is gone and there is no cure. Therefore, they abandon the pursuit and their dream dies. That’s so sad. Listen. Striking out is a very important aspect of the game of baseball. Players expect to strike out more than get a hit. Striking out is no reason to quit. Football players drop passes that would have gotten the team a vital first down and perhaps the end zone. I have seen so many turnovers at critical stages of important games that were very costly to teams. Michael Jordan missed most of the shots he took that would have won the game. He missed and they lost. But Michael didn’t quit, and the team still expected him to take that shot. It is the same way in life. We can’t quit because we miss it here and there. We can’t stop communicating because we didn’t say it right. We can’t give up because of a few failed relationships. We have to hang in there and keep on going. I often think of the time Peter failed the Lord Jesus. He made a bold proclamation that he would never deny Jesus, but later denied him three times. But he was able to overcome that defeat and become a pillar of the church. Why did Peter fail? He loved Jesus and was very close to Him. You see, Peter didn’t just slip up. Jesus prepared him the very same night; "Simon, Satan has desired you, to sift you as wheat, but I’ve prayed for you" Luke 22: 31-32. Peter was warned, but a big problem with Peter was that he trusted himself way too much. He never considered the possibility that he could really deny Christ. At the last supper while sitting around the table, Jesus said, "All ye shall be offended because of me this night" Matthew 26:31. "All" included Peter too. Instead of paying attention Peter immediately justified himself saying that he would go as far as to die with Jesus if he had to. Peter was actually saying, "I see how these others might give in, but not me. I’m the "Rock", remember. You said it yourself. He was so confident. And yet, Christ knew what was in his heart all the while. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked Jeremiah 17:9. The main person the heart deceives is us. That is why we need to take heed, because the time we are the most emboldened to think we can stand is the very time we are most vulnerable. We may truly believe deep within that we got it all together, but deep in our hearts, there is a dark side. It’s in there, and the Peters of this life need to recognize so as not to be deceived. We need to keep our focus on Jesus at all times. The potential to fall is within all of us. Just today I was reading in the paper of yet another priest convicted of several counts of child molestation. As sick as that may sound, I can only pray for God’s comfort for them and the victims. But I consider myself and take heed. The moment we think we are so strong is the very time that failure is lurking in the shadows waiting to pounce on us. It is in us to fail, and if we think that it’s not, we’re deceived. We cannot afford to let our guards down. Peter said that he wouldn’t deny Christ. But he did; more than once. He boasted of a strong faith, but his faith failed him. I am so glad to know not to trust myself. If I drop my guard, I’ll be fussing and fighting or doing some other ungodly immoral thing that I shouldn’t be doing. You see, I don’t like being told "no", and I don’t like people disrespecting me. But my failures have helped me to know my need. That same night Jesus took Peter, James and John to the Garden of Gethsemane. He told them to, "Stay here, watch and pray while I go and pray". He was only within a stone’s throw distance away from them (see Matthew 26:28). While Jesus prayed with a heavy heart and sweat pouring like drops of blood running down his face, what did the disciples do? They fell asleep. All three of them. But before we condemn them, think about how many times we have feel asleep when we should have been praying. Satan is out there like a roaring lion, and if we assume that he is going to pass us by because we got it all together, we had better think again. Just because things are going our way today, we better take heed. Get in the Word, pray, meditate, trust Him, and surrender to His will. We need to prepare ourselves for the offense that may come any moment. When Jesus was arrested, the other disciples fled. The fear was too much for them. But Peter couldn’t leave; so he followed at a safe distance and tried to be invisible. With the help of John, he got into the place where Jesus was (see John 18: 16-17). But a girl on the inside recognized Peter and made a positive identification. But Peter denied who he was, and after the third time, Peter knew that he wasn’t as powerful as he thought he was. Listen. Peter could have gone in there without denying Jesus. John didn’t deny him. But something about Peter made that girl ask him those questions. He didn’t have to go over where the soldiers were to warm himself. He didn’t have to go standing there in the midst of that crowd. The soldiers denied Jesus; the crowd denied Jesus; the girl at then gate denied Him. Peter did what everybody else did. He blended in because it was in him all the while. After the third denial, Peter went for the gold. He said some choice words that convinced the crowd he really didn’t know Jesus after all. Then the rooster crowed. I’m not sure what a rooster was doing out there, but it was out there, and it crowed real loud. Well, I’m not sure exactly how loud it crowed, but Peter heard it and remembered what Jesus said. And that did it. Peter was broken. He was miserable. He had no joy, no victory and no testimony. Never think for a moment that people who walk away from Jesus never think about it. They do. Peter regretted what happened. He learned. We may not have denied Jesus with words, but we have had those times when we didn’t do what we should have done. We have all had times when we weren’t as faithful with what God told us to do; when we gave too little or talked too much or displayed an attitude unlike Christ. We may have even cursed like Peter. Even if we didn’t, the potential is in us just the same, and that to a large degree, puts us on the same level. Peter didn’t understand how deep the love of Christ was until after he denied Him. As Peter began to clear his head and think about what had happened, he remembered that Jesus knew it and was praying for him. Jesus wasn’t surprised. After Jesus rose, He met Peter and reassured him that he was forgiven, and his ministry was restored. How beautiful. We can’t get away from the grace of God. He loves us in spite of ourselves. Judas failed Jesus that week also. But he was so overcome with grief that he went out and hanged himself. It didn’t have to be that way. The time we fail is the time Satan comes to sift us. But Jesus is interceding for us. He is there working all things together for good on our behalf. By: Edmund Brown |