“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” Luke 22:31-32 I wonder why this ended up in the inspired writings of Scripture. Proof positive they are inspired! No one would willingly write out their failures for generations of people to read in the future – unless they were totally changed by God as a result of that failure and the writings were to be an encouragement for those who would come after.
There are many interesting things to stop and meditate on in these couple sentences in the Bible. First, Satan is asking permission. (He asked permission to ‘sift’ Job too.) This underscores for me that when trials come in this life, they are with God’s permission. These are the things that have life-changing opportunities in them depending on how we respond to them. The bigger the trial we go through, the stronger the ministry potential at the other end. And God is cheering for us to make it through the trial – knowing that we have enough faith, hoping we will use it well.
Just as a child develops the strength to walk by falling and getting up again, we develop our spiritual strength and our faith by falling and getting up again. Yet, I observe that when our sisters and brothers in the faith fail, we ostracize them and keep them away from our families so we won’t fall with them. And when current day church leaders fall, we ‘devour’ them and ban them from ministry. It seems to me that we may be silencing some very strong brothers and sisters with great ministry potential. Jesus’ words to Peter were, “And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” What would have happened if the other Apostles would have not allowed Peter to teach because of his failure?
There are many faith stories where people have come to faith because someone else failed and then turned back. When someone truly repents and humbly asks for forgiveness for a wrong they did, it really gets the attention of the other person. True humbleness is rare. Not that we should go around failing on purpose so we can ask forgiveness and get attention. But when those times come, if we are humble and willing to repent and seek forgiveness, much good can come from that. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28
One only has to look at the before and after characters of Peter to know why God allowed him to be ‘sifted’ at this time. Peter responded to Jesus’ prophetic words, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.” Luke 22:33. Peter was full of himself and thought he was Superman! The problem was that he was going to do it on his own power. Jesus told him, “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today you will deny three times that you know me.” Luke 22:34 And we see in the following verses, that is exactly what Peter did. When it came time to lay his life on the line, he wasn’t Superman after all. He was just a lot of hot air that deflated rather quickly.
John doesn’t leave it there. After Jesus died and rose from the dead, he was with a number of the disciples and spoke again to Peter asking him three times, “Do you love me?” And as Peter said, “Of course you know I love you,” Jesus asked him to, “Feed my lambs,” to “Take care of my sheep,” and to “Feed my sheep.” John 21:15-17 Jesus was asking Peter to take what he learned and use it to teach others. And we know from reading on in the New Testament just how well Peter did that. Because Peter was humbled and all the hot air was removed, he was able to be filled with the breath of the Spirit of God and become a very strong minister of the Gospel of Christ. Now instead of being full of himself, he was full of God’s spirit.
It occurs to me that while Peter was (as usual) the most vocal about defending Jesus to the end, the other disciples were there as well and many of them thinking the same thing. And when Jesus was arrested, they disappeared. Peter got asked if he knew Jesus because he was more visible all along and because he stayed close enough to the action to be noticed. Because Peter was pushed harder, he fell harder. But when he got up, he was stronger.
I wonder how many times I choose the ‘safe zone’ rather than staying where the action is. I might not take as many hits in the ‘safe zone,’ but I also don’t have as much opportunity to share God’s love and salvation with others in that ‘safe zone.’ Maybe it’s time to risk a little and hang out in the ‘crash zone!’
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