THE CAUSE FOR ADVENTURE AND STORY
Forgetting what is behind, we look ahead!
Have you ever felt like your comrades just stripped you of your post? Have you ever thought that your life was more of a train wreck than an adventure? I found out the hard way that there are many people just like me and that we all have something in common. We are all a lot like Peter was! Prior to His utter abandonment of Christ, He lopped off the ear of a Roman Soldier. Now in our culture we would have labeled Peter as an intolerant hater and banished him from fellowship while perpetuating his past long after Christ had lovingly dealt with him but, the story didn’t end there!
Instead of stripping Peter of his “post" for assault and battery and, later abandoning and denying him, Jesus did the opposite: In fact he invests a tremendous amount into Peter instead. I know, right! It sounds ridiculous that Jesus would use the very unconventional method that He did to build the church. Peter had been spectacularly unreliable, and yet Jesus reinstated him as “rock.” He had been Irrational, untrustworthy, unpredictable in a pinch, and everything that those around him would have considered to be rock solid. He literally was the opposite of a good idea and yet this is how Jesus chooses to build the church and to work in the world.
The wonderful truth in the story of Peter is that God doesn’t need strong and "morally fit" vessels to accomplish his will. He needs broken ones—men and women who have been slain, humiliated, disillusioned. He uses the ones who have been culturally estranged and cast aside; he loves those who feel disillusioned with religion and what is going on in the world. He is a master at taking folks who are at the end of their rope who feel hopeless and giving them hope and purpose.
Peter was an utter failure on every level, but Jesus commissioned and used him anyway. Why? Because my success does not depend on the opinions about my past, it is solely rests on the way I am seen by Christ who is the Author and finisher of my faith. My success doesn’t rest on my "goodness." Rather, it rests on God's goodness. It does not depend on us--on our collective abilities or progress--at all, but rather on God's promise. Still to this day, I am weak in faith, but when I am, He is faithful. When I am faithless He is faithful.
You and I may be a hot mess today but like Peter we can enjoy great relief in knowing that the message to you and I has always been "Great is HIS faithfulness", not "Great is MY faithfulness." Don’t ever believe the passive accusations and lies that propagate your past or the perspectives that imply you are unchangeable. Furthermore, don't waste one more minute thinking you are unqualified to be used and deeply loved by God. You may be ruff on the outside but you are a Rock on the inside and He has great plans for you and I!
You will never look another individual in the eye that God does not love or forgive! Do you see everyone through the lens of God's son Jesus? We are looking forward to an adventure with God, What He is doing in your story, and the road ahead, ruts and all!
Have you ever felt like your comrades just stripped you of your post? Have you ever thought that your life was more of a train wreck than an adventure? I found out the hard way that there are many people just like me and that we all have something in common. We are all a lot like Peter was! Prior to His utter abandonment of Christ, He lopped off the ear of a Roman Soldier. Now in our culture we would have labeled Peter as an intolerant hater and banished him from fellowship while perpetuating his past long after Christ had lovingly dealt with him but, the story didn’t end there!
Instead of stripping Peter of his “post" for assault and battery and, later abandoning and denying him, Jesus did the opposite: In fact he invests a tremendous amount into Peter instead. I know, right! It sounds ridiculous that Jesus would use the very unconventional method that He did to build the church. Peter had been spectacularly unreliable, and yet Jesus reinstated him as “rock.” He had been Irrational, untrustworthy, unpredictable in a pinch, and everything that those around him would have considered to be rock solid. He literally was the opposite of a good idea and yet this is how Jesus chooses to build the church and to work in the world.
The wonderful truth in the story of Peter is that God doesn’t need strong and "morally fit" vessels to accomplish his will. He needs broken ones—men and women who have been slain, humiliated, disillusioned. He uses the ones who have been culturally estranged and cast aside; he loves those who feel disillusioned with religion and what is going on in the world. He is a master at taking folks who are at the end of their rope who feel hopeless and giving them hope and purpose.
Peter was an utter failure on every level, but Jesus commissioned and used him anyway. Why? Because my success does not depend on the opinions about my past, it is solely rests on the way I am seen by Christ who is the Author and finisher of my faith. My success doesn’t rest on my "goodness." Rather, it rests on God's goodness. It does not depend on us--on our collective abilities or progress--at all, but rather on God's promise. Still to this day, I am weak in faith, but when I am, He is faithful. When I am faithless He is faithful.
You and I may be a hot mess today but like Peter we can enjoy great relief in knowing that the message to you and I has always been "Great is HIS faithfulness", not "Great is MY faithfulness." Don’t ever believe the passive accusations and lies that propagate your past or the perspectives that imply you are unchangeable. Furthermore, don't waste one more minute thinking you are unqualified to be used and deeply loved by God. You may be ruff on the outside but you are a Rock on the inside and He has great plans for you and I!
You will never look another individual in the eye that God does not love or forgive! Do you see everyone through the lens of God's son Jesus? We are looking forward to an adventure with God, What He is doing in your story, and the road ahead, ruts and all!