SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/6/2016 9:33 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “The Powerful Extent of Christ’s Love”
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: John 13:36-38
Message of the verses: “36 Simon Peter said to Him, "Lord,
where are You going?" Jesus answered, "Where I go, you cannot follow
Me now; but you will follow later." 37 Peter said to Him, "Lord, why
can I not follow You right now? I will lay down my life for You." 38 Jesus
answered, "Will you lay down your life for Me? Truly, truly, I say to you,
a rooster will not crow until you deny Me three times.”
This is a
title that I would have never thought of while reading these verses many times
before, and yet as I thought about the title that John MacArthur gives to these
verse I began to understand Christ’s love that He has for Peter even though
Peter was arguing with Him and telling Him what he would do and Christ knew
that it would not happen that way, and so this shows how much love that Christ
has for Peter and therefore has for me when I make the same kind of dumb
mistakes. We will also see when we get
to the last chapter of John that Jesus Christ after His resurrection comes to
Peter to bring him back into the fold, not that he was not a believer because
of what he would do to Christ, but he had decided not to be following Christ,
and I believe it was because of his guilt from denying him three times. We read that he wants to go fishing, and I
believe that this is what he wanted to return to, but Christ came to him to
show Him he was forgiven and that he was still very useful for the Lord. Remember “The successful Christian life is a
series of new beginnings.”
Peter would
not listen to the Lord and wants to follow Him right now as he says that he was
willing to lay down his life for the Lord.
I have to say that legend tells us that Peter and his wife were both crucified
for the cause of Christ, Peter doing it upside down because he did not feel
worthy of being crucified the same way Jesus was, so yet he would die for the
cause of Christ, but not just yet.
Jesus goes
on to tell him that he would deny Him three times, and in the gospel of Luke
Jesus told Peter that Satan had asked if he could sift Peter like wheat and so
this request was given to him. However
when one sifts wheat the chaff goes up into the air and the wheat goes into the
basket. Peter ended up getting rid of
his chaff and was therefore more useful for the Lord.
Peter would
fail the Lord as we have read that he wanted to lay down his life for the Lord,
and yet when Jesus was praying right before He was going to go to the cross and
asked His disciples to pray with Him they all, including Peter fell asleep, so
we see the failure of Peter even praying with the Lord.
MacArthur
writes “But that was not the end of the story for Peter. Christ’s love for him would not let Peter
slip away (cf. John 6:37, 39; 10:28-29).
After being restored by Jesus (John 21: 15-17—note the emphasis of love
in Christ’s restoration of Peter) and filled with the Spirit (Acts 2:1-4),
Peter became the leader of the early church.
He fearlessly preached the gospel (Acts 2:14-36; 3:12-26), and wrote two
epistles in which he distilled some of the painful lessons he had learned (cf.
1 Peter 4:7; 55).”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I can better understand the great love that
Christ has for me as I look at the life of Peter, knowing that because of the
love that the Lord has for me because I am His own that He will pick me up when
I fail Him and dust me off and continue to use me for His glory.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question: “Ziklag” (1 Samuel 27:6).
Today’s Bible question:
“To whom did the angel say ‘Blessed are you among women’?”
Answer in our next SD.
11/6/2016 9:56 PM
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