By Olubunmi Adebayo
Today, we continue with :
Peter’s Restoration and Journey to Success :
The first thing we need to observe about the restoration of Peter is that Jesus did not take away his calling on the account of his failures.
Rather, Jesus renewed his strength from the point of his failure. Jesus never said to him, “You are disqualified.”
Jesus showed Peter that He loved him.
After the resurrection, Jesus – whom Peter denied three times, did not meet Peter with anger or bitterness.
In fact, Jesus met him with breakfast :
In John 21, Jesus cooked fish on the shore and asked Peter three times :
“Simon, son of John, do you love me?”
Three denials. Three questions. Three restorations.
Each time Peter said: “Yes, Lord, you know I love you.” Jesus replied:
“Feed my lambs.”
“Take care of my sheep.”
“Feed my sheep.
Jesus implied by the reason of the above that “You are now qualified to feed others, because you now know what it means to be weak and to be forgiven.”
Shortly after Peter’s restoration, his journey to success started – from denial at the courtyard to preaching in the streets of Jerusalem.
The same Peter who could not confess Jesus before a servant girl, stood up on the day of Pentecost before thousands and preached the good-news of Jesus Christ to people.
And 3,000 souls were won at his maiden public preaching in one singular day.
The same Peter who denied Jesus to save his life, later healed the lame man at the Beautiful Gate (Acts 3). Went on and stood boldly before the Sanhedrin and declared : “We cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” Acts 4:20.
The same Peter who ran away in fear, later, according to church history, was crucified upside down in Rome because he refused to deny Jesus again – he said he was not worthy to die the same way as his Master, Jesus Christ.
What was it that changed in the life of Peter? Certainly not his talent : his failure had been turned into his testimony. He had failed, he had been forgiven, he had been filled with the Holy Spirit, and now he had become fearless.
Peter’s life showed a pattern as follows : From failure to being broken. And from being broken to restoration. And from restoration to boldness. And from boldness to success.
In our secular setting, are there people who can fit into this narration – failure and success living together?
We shall consider this tomorrow, God willing.
Top of the day to you 👍
©️ Olubunmi S Adebayo.
