Peter was a disciple who was frequently saying the first thing that came to his mind. Sometimes, it was good. Sometimes, it was bad! Here is an example of the latter:
John 13:36-38
36 Simon Peter said
to Him, "Lord, where are You going?" Jesus
answered, "Where I go, you cannot follow Me now;
but you will follow later."
37 Peter said to Him,
"Lord, why can I not follow You right now? I will
lay down my life for You."
Peter certainly meant what he said, and he had nothing but good intentions. But instead of thinking about what he had learned from Jesus, he was acting on his emotions. He was saying, “I’ll suffer instead of you!” What Peter should have done was remember what Jesus had said before:
Mark
45
"For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and
to give His life a ransom for many."
Peter’s good intentions are neutralized by his ignorance of the plan of God. Now there’s something interesting in Jesus’ response.
38 Jesus answered,
"Will you lay down your life for Me? Truly,
truly, I say to you, a rooster will not crow until you deny Me
three times.
Being emotional always leads to failure! It’s not just about what feels right. What Peter offered sounded good, but it was contrary to the plan of God. If Jesus had let Peter go die for Him, our salvation never would have been accomplished!
One important thing to remember when you study the Bible is that the writers did not put the chapter breaks in. (They didn’t number the verses either!) So Jesus’ statements in John 14 follow right along this same principle.
John 14:1-2
1 "Do not let
your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.
2 "In My
Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told
you; for I go to prepare a place for you.
Jesus has just told Peter that he was going to fail miserably! Before dawn occurs, Peter will have denied Jesus 3 times, and then he goes out and weeps bitterly. This was one of the lowest moments in his life, experiencing the bitterness of his failure. But Jesus gives Peter what he needs before the failure comes.
When Jesus says, “Do not let your heart be troubled,” it is in the imperative mood. This means it is a command! God doesn’t want us to concentrate on our failures! If Peter is going to move forward in his Christian life, then he cannot be distracted by his failures. The very same thing applies to us. The spiritual life is not designed to be haunted by past failures.
Notice that even though Peter fails miserably 3 times, Jesus reminds him that his eternal home is secure. In essence, Jesus is saying, “Peter (or any believer!), when you fail, remember that your permanent eternal dwelling is still there!” When we fail in some big way, it never changes our status, because our status does not depend on us, it depends on God. Remember this – God’s plan is greater than our failures.
Philippians 3:13-14
13 Brethren, I do not
regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting
what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead,
14 I press on toward
the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
So don’t worry about your failures. Because you will have them! But when you do, realize your eternal home is completely secure, and reach forward to what God has ahead for you.