When Jesus was arrested, Peter followed the soldiers at a distance. It was night time. In the courtyard outside of the high priest’s house, Peter sat down to warm himself at a fire. A servant girl came up to him and stared. Peter was uncomfortable and turned away. But she came closer and said, “You were with Jesus, weren’t you?” Defensively, Peter retorted, “No, I wasn’t. I don’t even know the guy!”
A little while later a young man sat down next to Peter to warm his hands and said, “Hey! You are one of his followers!” Peter responded, “I am not!” And he stood up and walked away from the fire. But an hour later another guy approached him and pushed his finger in his face. “You were with him! He was a Galilean and you are, too!” Peter yelled, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about!”
“And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, ‘Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.’”1
It was Peter’s lowest point. Ever. Luke writes that “he went out and wept bitterly.”2 He cried and he cried and he cried. For he knew he had let Jesus down. He had boasted loudly that he would go “to prison and to death”3 for Jesus. He said, “even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!”4
But then he did.
And we will, too. We will let Jesus down. We will act like we don’t know him. We will stay away from him. We will choose our own way. We will betray him. Then when we realize what we have done, we will be broken people, believing ourselves to be worthless and useless. We will feel like the hypocrites we judge others to be. When we reach this low point, it is crucial that we focus on who we are rather than what we have done. John writes, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God; and so we are.”5
God will never abandon his children. He will never give up on us. He will never forsake us. Though we have sinned, we are not condemned. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”6 “For who shall separate us from the love of Christ?”7
Though we are humbled by our mistakes, God will welcome us home with arms outstretched. Brokenness is not a bad place to be though it is so very hard. It is where we truly see our need for God. Jesus referred to it as being “poor in spirit” and had this to say about that: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”8 God stands ready to mend our broken hearts. It is actually what is required to be restored. After David had committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband Uriah killed, David was a broken man. He wrote this: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”9
God will turn our brokenness into goodness. He turns sorrow into joy and makes good things out of bad things. He is a great God. And we are his beloved children.
1Luke 22:60-61 2Luke 22:62 3Luke 22:33 4Matthew 26:35 51 John 3:1 6Romans 8:1 7Romans 8:35 8Matthew 5:3 9Psalm 51:17
Sometimes as humans we forget that God is so ready to forgive our sins. All it takes is a broken spirit asking for forgiveness.
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