Give Your All to Jesus This Week!
“When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint Him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, ‘Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?’ And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back - it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. And he said to them, ‘Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. But go, tell His disciples and Peter that He is going before you to Galilee. There you will see Him, just as He told you,” (Mark 16:1-7).
It is likely that you have probably disappointed somebody in your life. Perhaps you had done something as a child that warranted the look of disappointment from your father. Many times it’s not the punishment that hurts a child as much as it is the silence and the knowledge that you have disappointed your parents.
Peter has had a rough go of things. Peter was very zealous in serving the Lord. At the time in which Jesus was foretelling the things in which He would experience, Peter says, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you,” (Matthew 16:22). When Jesus went to pray in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus foretells His disciples scattering from His presence and Peter says, “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away,” (Matthew 26:33). Further Jesus tells Peter, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows you will deny Me three times.” Peter replies, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you,” (Matthew 26:34-35).
Peter has expressed on multiple occasions how he will stand with Jesus and never back down, even to the point of death. However, as Jesus had been arrested and led through trials, Peter was questioned about his relationship with Jesus. Despite his earlier claims that he would never deny Jesus, Peter denied Jesus three times. Peter recognized what he had done. Peter rejected Jesus, Peter left Jesus, Peter lied to Jesus. You can imagine the pain that Peter goes through afterwards as he weeps bitterly over what he had just done.
It would be very easy for Peter to imagine that Jesus would be done with him forever and never want him back. It would be easy for Peter to think that he had ruined his life forever. Fortunately for Peter, this isn’t the case. In Mark’s account of the resurrection of Jesus, it shows that Jesus specifically requested Peter. “But go, tell His disciples, and Peter…”
The encouragement from this is that even though we may feel like we have lost all hope and Jesus would never accept us back, Jesus still loves us and Jesus wants us back. Even though Peter had denied, rejected, and lied to Jesus, Jesus wanted Peter back and Jesus still had love for Peter.
If you have messed up and have left Jesus, it’s not too late. Jesus is still loving and willing to receive you back if you come back to Him.
Give your all for Jesus this week!
