You’ll Deny Him Three Times

April 07, 2020

From today’s reading…

Peter said to him,

‘Master, why can I not follow you now?

I will lay down my life for you.’

Jesus answered, ‘Will you lay down your life for me?

Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not crow

before you deny me three times.’” John 13:37-38

One of Mike Tyson’s most famous lines is “Everybody has a plan until they get hit. Then, like a rat, they stop in fear and freeze.” (It took me 30 minutes to find this exact quote. It’s amazing how we take something and run with whatever version we want to hear.)

Jesus knew that about Peter.

Mike Tyson knew that about you and me. (Jesus also knows that about you and me.)

You think you’re all that and a bag of donuts, but how do you know unless you’ve been tested?

You and I are being tested right now. How are you doing?

When you fall short do you allow despair to envelope you and lose all hope like Judas? (The devil hopes so.)

Or do you allow yourself a moment to grieve, pick yourself up, and return to Jesus like we know Peter did?

Both denied Jesus, but only one returned to…

Stay the course.Keep the faith.Endure.

Now go sell something.