I just gave one of my children a stern lecture because she asked me to make pancakes. I can admit that in the way I reacted to her request for her favorite breakfast, you would have thought she had actually slapped me across the face. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
My excuses? Tired, new baby, up all night, deadline looming. The pancake request felt like another thing I was failing at, and the victim of my feelings was my poor pancake requester.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I hate failing my family. When I say something or do something I need to later apologize for, there\u2019s something in me that says that I shouldn\u2019t have any failures after twenty-some years of being a Christian. Shouldn\u2019t failure only exist in my before-Christ era? I can so easily get lost in a spiral of focusing on me and my performance. I wonder, standing before a risen Jesus, if Peter felt the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In today\u2019s reading, Jesus asked Peter to leave His fishing boat behind and follow Him. In response, Peter dropped his nets. When Jesus walked on water, Peter stepped out of the boat to join him. When Jesus asked Peter, \u201cWho do you say that I am?\u201d Peter was the first to proclaim that Jesus is the Messiah. He followed fast and recognized who it was that he was following. Yay, Peter! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But that\u2019s just the highlight reel. We also read about Peter sinking the moment he took his eyes off Jesus. He tried to talk Jesus out of going to the cross. And of course there\u2019s his infamous denial of Jesus (times three!), pretty much immediately after promising Jesus that he\u2019d never deny Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I relate to Peter so much. Maybe you do too. I can remember my Jesus-following-highlight reel moments. But honestly, it\u2019s easier for me to remember all the ways I\u2019ve failed Jesus since surrendering my life to Him. The pancake moments are easy to recall. But I only get stuck there when I forget the gospel. Peter and I have many lowlights, but we also have Jesus and His saving grace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After Jesus died for Peter\u2019s failures (and mine and yours), He came back and He restored Peter. He came back and used Peter to build His church. He didn\u2019t rise from the dead and return to condemn. Instead, He redeemed Peter and gave him a purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At Pentecost, it wasn\u2019t Peter\u2019s new and improved awesomeness that changed him from a coward to a bold missionary\u2014it was the power of the Holy Spirit. Peter\u2019s story ends up not even being about Peter\u2014it\u2019s about Jesus. And the same is true for all of us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When we, like Peter, are able to see our Christian-highlight-reels for what they really are\u2014the work of the Holy Spirit, and are able to see our Christian failures for what they<\/em> really are\u2014completely covered by the finished work of Jesus, we are able to walk confidently and powerfully in our purpose without shame over our past or our future failures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Whether or not you joyfully made pancakes today or snapped at a pancake seeker, take heart\u2014not because you\u2019ll do better next time but because the grace of Jesus is more powerful than your worst moments. If you\u2019ve recognized Him as Lord of your life, like Peter did, you can rest. And you can recognize Him as Lord again tonight and tomorrow and next time a child asks you for pancakes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I just gave one of my children a stern lecture because she asked me to make pancakes. I can admit that in the way I reacted to her request for her favorite breakfast, you would have thought she had actually slapped me across the face. My excuses? Tired, new baby, up all night, deadline looming. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":77,"featured_media":72348,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[302],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pitnt"],"acf":{"hero_background_image":false,"related_plans":[72485],"weekly_truth":false,"grace_day":false,"share_text":"#SheReadsTruth","devotional_text":"PETER<\/b> I just gave one of my children a stern lecture because she asked me to make pancakes. I can admit that in the way I reacted to her request for her favorite breakfast, you would have thought she had actually slapped me across the face.<\/p> My excuses? Tired, new baby, up all night, deadline looming. The pancake request felt like another thing I was failing at, and the victim of my feelings was my poor pancake requester.<\/p> I hate failing my family. When I say something or do something I need to later apologize for, there\u2019s something in me that says that I shouldn\u2019t have any failures after twenty-some years of being a Christian. Shouldn\u2019t failure only exist in my before-Christ era? I can so easily get lost in a spiral of focusing on me and my performance. I wonder, standing before a risen Jesus, if Peter felt the same.<\/p> In today\u2019s reading, Jesus asked Peter to leave His fishing boat behind and follow Him. In response, Peter dropped his nets. When Jesus walked on water, Peter stepped out of the boat to join him. When Jesus asked Peter, \u201cWho do you say that I am?\u201d Peter was the first to proclaim that Jesus is the Messiah. He followed fast and recognized who it was that he was following. Yay, Peter!<\/p> But that\u2019s just the highlight reel. We also read about Peter sinking the moment he took his eyes off Jesus. He tried to talk Jesus out of going to the cross. And of course there\u2019s his infamous denial of Jesus (times three!), pretty much immediately after promising Jesus that he\u2019d never deny Him.<\/p> I relate to Peter so much. Maybe you do too. I can remember my Jesus-following-highlight reel moments. But honestly, it\u2019s easier for me to remember all the ways I\u2019ve failed Jesus since surrendering my life to Him. The pancake moments are easy to recall. But I only get stuck there when I forget the gospel. Peter and I have many lowlights, but we also have Jesus and His saving grace.<\/p> After Jesus died for Peter\u2019s failures (and mine and yours), He came back and He restored Peter. He came back and used Peter to build His church. He didn\u2019t rise from the dead and return to condemn. Instead, He redeemed Peter and gave him a purpose.<\/p> At Pentecost, it wasn\u2019t Peter\u2019s new and improved awesomeness that changed him from a coward to a bold missionary\u2014it was the power of the Holy Spirit. Peter\u2019s story ends up not even being about Peter\u2014it\u2019s about Jesus. And the same is true for all of us.<\/p> When we, like Peter, are able to see our Christian-highlight-reels for what they really are\u2014the work of the Holy Spirit, and are able to see our Christian failures for what they<\/em> really are\u2014completely covered by the finished work of Jesus, we are able to walk confidently and powerfully in our purpose without shame over our past or our future failures.<\/p> Whether or not you joyfully made pancakes today or snapped at a pancake seeker, take heart\u2014not because you\u2019ll do better next time but because the grace of Jesus is more powerful than your worst moments. If you\u2019ve recognized Him as Lord of your life, like Peter did, you can rest. And you can recognize Him as Lord again tonight and tomorrow and next time a child asks you for pancakes.<\/p>","share_image_height":"640","day_number":"9","scripture":"Luke 5:1-11, Matthew 14:22-32, Mark 8:27-30, Luke 22:54-62, John 21:15-19, Acts 2:14-24, Acts 2:32-41 ","available":true,"ad_banner_name":"","ad_banner_image":false,"ad_banner_url":"","songs":"","key_verse":"","key_verse_reference":"","background_image":false,"background_color":"#FBF7F3","scripture_references":false,"share_image":false,"author_name":"","author_bio":"","guest_social_media":false,"show_ad":true,"ad_override":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/77"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72509\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\r\nby Scarlet Hiltibidal<\/i>
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