Peter, in the Bible, found himself in a similar
situation. When Jesus invited Peter to follow him, he threw down his nets without
hesitation. But he didn’t really know what that would entail.
For three years Peter lived and learned from Jesus.
He had good moments and triumphant failures. One time, Jesus accused him of
speaking for Satan, another time he fell asleep when he was needed most. Then, when things got heavy, he sliced off a
man’s ear and turned and ran like a coward. At one point, Peter even denied he knew
Jesus! After such an awkward turn in ministry, Peter must have been thinking: “I
was right. Jesus made a BIG mistake in
choosing me.”
Many of us find ourselves in the same position. Once
we were stirred by a whisper - “follow me.” But after years of mistakes and awkward
turns in ministry, we begin to wonder if Jesus was wrong in choosing us. Or
maybe we have messed up so badly that God decided to move on to someone
else. But this is not God’s way. God delights in rehabilitation, as we see in
Peter’s story.
Three years after they began, Jesus invited Peter to
follow him once again. But now Peter had a better understanding of what that
invitation meant. To replace the ugly words that had once come out of his
mouth, Jesus invited Peter to speak out loud his love for him, three times. And
then Peter was ready - for complete
cooperation.
For
life change to happen, we must cooperate fully with God’s desire to transform
us.
When Peter cooperated fully with Jesus, when he gave
his whole self to him and threw aside the cares and concerns of the world, he became
a changed man. His prayers of “Lord,
change me” took dramatic effect when he surrendered in complete cooperation.
He became the leader of a movement which was described as turning the world upside
down (Acts 17:6).
Where are you at in this journey? Have you surrendered
in complete cooperation to Jesus? What is holding you back?
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