The Example of Peter and Paul

When life gets difficult or stressful, I often turn to the story of a biblical character for guidance. This week I have been very blessed by the characters of Paul and Peter. Both men were called by God, yet by different parts of the trinity- Paul was confronted by God the father while traveling; Peter was confronted by Jesus while fishing with his brother Andrew. In both cases we see God doing the selecting- God chose us! There was no reason for this to be so, yet in his mercy he declared us worthy of the saving grace provided on Calvary.

I think what really encourages me about these two men is the depth from which they were saved and the newness that they were brought in to through Jesus blood. Indeed, these two men were give new names through Christ. How awesome is that? I think its just an amazing picture of God washing the slate clean… it’s as if he says, “Here is your new life, go and live it!”

Simon, a simple fisherman, comes upon Jesus suddenly and unexpectedly one day. It is not as if he was given time to contemplate this choice; God presented him with a new life to live and he jumped at the chance without looking back. In Peter I see my own shortcomings. Peter was a zealous follower of Christ- he was a man of extreme highs and lows in his spiritual walk… both could get him into trouble. On one end of the spectrum we see him cutting off the high priest’s ear for trying to take his beloved Lord away, and at the other end we see him denying Jesus three times with shame. Peter was also the man that refused to let Jesus wash his feet, and then asked him to wash his whole body! I know that’s something that I can really relate to- it seems that all too often I’m either on fire or freezing in my walk. The encouraging part is that Peter was beloved of God- he was turned from Simon into Cephas (translated Peter) which means ‘rock’. What a great God we serve that can turn restless, changing men into solid rocks of the faith.

The story of Paul is quite possibly one of my favorites in the Bible. In the character of Paul, we are given a glimpse of how deep the cleansing blood of Jesus runs. Saul was not a nice man by any means… in fact he was quite the opposite. Saul made it his sole purpose in life to hunt down and kill those who proclaimed the name of God (he was even present in the condemnation and martyring of Stephen). In Saul we see the most violent of offenders- a man who attacked the very cause that he would soon claim as his own! The amazing part about this is that it wasn’t a slow revelation for Saul- it was instant. God appeared to him on the road and declared that he change his ways. When I start to try and imagine the guilt that Paul had to deal with at his conversion, I am humbled. Here you have a man that had just spent the better part of his adult life attacking and killing men and women that he was now called to join! When I ask myself the question, “How could God ever forgive me, when my sins are so vile?” I need only look to Paul and realize that God’s saving grace knows no bounds. That is truly moving my friends- God saves us from every wrong thing we have done against his name!

It is my prayer that God would make all of us like Peter and Paul; that he would take overzealous, murdering men and turn them into solid, rocks for Christ. Well I’ve done it again… I just can seem to post short blogs! At any rate, that’s what has been on my mind this last week- I hope it is an encouragement to you all as it has been to me. Have an awesome week, take care.

God’s Reality

As I sit here, safe in my home, I find that a great many things become apparent. God is so incredibly good; his goodness spans the confines of our finite human minds. Ouch… that’s hard to even ponder!

I find it interesting that everyone is up in arms, blaming each other for this horrible New Orleans tragedy. One person blames the federal government, another the state, still another the populace itself, yet never a word is mentioned about this all happening according to the will of God. Man doesn’t want to hear that God allowed something like this to happen! We are so stooped in our sin that we refuse to recognize a will other then our own. The paradox of course is that each and every human being is fulfilling God’s perfect will daily whether they claim to ‘reject’ it or not.

Right now I’m going through an awesome book by Charlie Peacock (New Way to Be Human), and as he puts it- “Since sin is always about having some other agenda than God’s, repentance is first about turning from my false understanding of reality to God’s true reality. When the eyes of my heart are enlightened, I see reality as it is…” God sees us as pure through the blood of his Son and gives us this reality; his reality! There is nothing grander and more hopeful then that- life takes on meaning and purpose.

I think we as Christians walk this road but don’t give the gravity of the situation a second thought. It hit me this week how very, very fortunate I am. How often do I think about how my sins held the dying son of God to the cross? How often do I smile and give thanks when I realize that I have been given the most amazing gift there is? How often do I share this free gift with others? Do others see Christ in my actions and how I lead my life?

We should live this life with fervor and dedication, as though everything is new and exciting- the promise of God is fresh! Why is it that so many Christians become dull objects as the years go by? We have the promise of eternity and the love of God. Who in all the earth could be happier? Yes we will fail, but we will not be defeated, because the battle has already been won.

“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.” -1 Timothy 4:12

This is a verse the Lord has been using in my life lately, it’s become somewhat of a ’spurring on’ theme… Hope you are all doing well, thanks for reading this huge blog. I don’t do these too often, so I apologize for the length!