Passage Read: Luke 21-22
Meditation Verses: 22:31-32
Thought
Satan demanded permission to sift Peter like wheat, and it was granted. Satan couldn't attack Peter without permission, but God was willing for him to be tested, knowing he would fail the test. Peter would be tested without Satan's interference. Peter had declared he would gladly go to prison or die with Jesus, so when Jesus was arrested, that was the first test and his first failure. But in the courtyard, he had three more chances to prove his devotion. That was Satan's sifting. That was Satan pouring salt into the wound, humiliating Peter again and again, offering him the chance to make up for his earlier failure and watching him instead double down on it. Jesus knew Peter would fail, and planned for it. In His warning to Peter was the promise of grace and restoration, and commission. He was meant to survive Jesus' arrest and crucifixion. God had other plans for him. Stumbling and falling is not the end of a truly righteous man. Giving up and abandoning Christ is the mark of one who was an unbeliever from the beginning.
Application
God tests me, so that I can see what is truly in my own heart, not to demoralize me, but to show me how I still need to grow and where I still need work. He even allows Satan times to sift me so as to thoroughly humiliate myself, to reveal whether I am truly committed or not. My level of commitment is ideally shown by passing every test, but that's not the only way. "A righteous man falls seven times, and seven times gets up again." A righteous man cannot turn his back on Jesus, no matter how many times he blows it. Jesus remains the same; Jesus remains God and Christ and Savior. Salvation was never to be found in my strength and ability to endure and pass tests. Salvation is always and only found in recognizing and trusting in who Jesus truly is. So the righteous man falls and remembers that hope and restoration, forgiveness and salvation were always in Jesus and only in Jesus, so he looks again to Jesus, gets back up and carries on following Jesus, growing through, despite and because of his failures. Peter didn't deny Jesus ever again. He died with Jesus and because of Jesus. Growing is key. Beating myself up when I fail is neither the end nor the solution. The solution is to learn from my mistakes so as to put them behind me. The solution is to look to Jesus and recommit myself to following and learning and growing in faith and in His likeness. The worst thing I can do is give up believing in Jesus, to turn my back on Him and cast Him aside, as if my stumbling were His fault. That's spiritual suicide, and evidence that my confidence and faith were in me, not Jesus. That's evidence that I think too highly of myself and put too much stock in my ability. That's the fruit of perfectionism and self-righteousness. That's not where I want to be.