Accept it and Move On!

Luke 22:54-62 (Click on reference to read text)

This past Sunday, about 10 minutes or so into the service, a woman came and sat down next to me. As soon as she took her seat, the Holy Spirit started nudging me. Pretty soon I knew what I was supposed to do. I knew, just as plain as if God had audible spoken the words to me, I was to tell her that she looked beautiful. Part of me thought, well that is an easy thing to obey, what woman doesn't like to be told she is beautiful? This is a pretty receptive message. However, the other part of me thought, who will she think I am? Some strange woman she has never met turning to tell her she is beautiful? I waited for the "greet your neighbor part of the service" to obey, but it never came. So as I wrestled with how and when to do it, the service ended before I knew it. I turned to her and said, "Have a Happy Easter," and went about my way picking up my kids from Sunday School.

I failed. I actually was lying in bed this morning thinking about this after being wakened by the myriads of birds singing outside of my window at 5am. I have confessed my shortcoming to the Lord, many times, and I know he has forgiven me. Now I have to work on forgiving myself.

Peter too failed the Lord and was very aware of it. Often times he gets a bad rap for denying Christ, but in one sense he was doing better than the other disciples. When all the other disciples ran away, he followed Christ. However, in a moment of weakness, fear, worry and shame he denied the Lord - 3 times. It broke his heart... but that is not the end of the story. One of the most beautiful verses in all the Bible details the angel's words to the women standing at the empty tomb just three days later. The angel tells them, "go, tell His disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see Him'"(Mark 16:7).

You see, one of the greatest things about being a child of God is that we are not labeled by our past, and never will be. In a world that tells you that your past will completely dictate your future, stand firm knowing that Christ has set you free (Galatians 5:1) and that there is no condemnation for those who believe on His name (Romans 8:1). Your past does not label you, your family history does not label you, your failures don't label you. God's ultimate sacrifice on the cross is what labels you.

One of the biggest and most successful lies of Satan is making us doubt our freedom and forgiveness that we have in Christ. You are free. Stop fighting and keeping yourself in the quagmire of your guilt and sin, and give it to God. Remember, Jesus called Peter by name! He singled him out to make sure Peter knew he still had a place in Jesus' company and plan. But that gave Peter a choice.

Peter could have chosen to wallow in his sin and failures for the rest of his life. Believe the lies that Satan was probably hitting him with about what a huge failure he was, embarrassment for not living up to the prideful statements he said about Christ (Mark 14:29-31), thinking that there was no way that God could use such a weak and sinful man. Peter could have chosen that path, but he didn't. Instead he walked in Christ's forgiveness, stood up on the day of Pentecost and began to preach, and 3,000 accepted Christ as Savior in one day (Acts 2:14-41). If you keep reading, the New Testament is full of true stories about the marvelous things that Peter did for the Lord and in the power of the Holy Spirit.

So you and I have a choice. We can continue to wallow in our sin and failure. We can refuse to be effective for Christ and believe the lies of Satan, or we can be a Peter. A man of great failure and great effectiveness for Christ. Who spoke words of betrayal, but repented and spoke words of great power. He moved on, he did not continue in his sin, he accepted Christ's forgiveness and the next time, he obeyed. I pray that the next time, I too will obey. May my heart cry with Isaiah, "Here I am Lord, send me!" (Is 6:8).

(Written on Monday, April 12th: As only our gracious and compassionate Lord can, the same lady sat directly behind me in church yesterday, coming in just after the service started. I knew instantly that the Lord was giving me a second chance at obedience. This time, as soon as the service ended, I immediately turned around and told her how beautiful I thought she looked last week. We continued to talk for a brief moment. I laughed in the car while telling my husband. You see, when I obeyed, nothing happened, at least not on the surface. The clouds did not part with the Hallelujah chorus being sung, she did not break down in tears saying that she was at a breaking point and these words will carry her through. No, none of these things. The only thing that happened was that she told me she loves the color green. I learned that God wants us to obey, just for the sake of obedience. We may never know why, but we need to leave that to Him. Is He giving you a second chance, take it! Even though you may never ever know why! Maybe you are group two: you have been disobedient and have not been given a second chance to obey. Be a Peter! Repent, move on and allow God to use you the next time. Resolve in your heart, as Daniel and his friends did (Daniel 1:8), go ahead and make the decision in your head and heart, that next time you will obey! Maybe you are group three... right now as you read this the Lord is nudging you to do something. Maybe it is calling your parents and apologizing for something little, maybe it is thanking your husband for going to work everyday for you all even though you don't feel like being thankful, maybe it is to tell your kids how proud you are of them because all you have been doing is yelling. Maybe it is to invite your neighbor over and just talk to her. I don't know what God is asking of you, but you do. Stand up and obey, who knows what might happen. You may never know, but God does and He will be glorified!)