FailureSample

Failure of Denial

“The Christian life is the lifelong practice of attending to the details of congruence—congruence between ends and means, congruence between what we do and the way we do it, congruence between what is written in Scripture and our living out what is written.” —Eugene Peterson

In our reading today, we witness Peter do something we never thought he would do. We witness him do something he never thought he would do. He denied Christ, and he denied any relationship with him. He denied him three times.

Earlier in the story, Peter made bold claims to Jesus. He claimed that he would never deny him. He said he was willing to die for him. And yet, in a series of stressful moments, Peter did not live up to his bold confessions.

I wonder how often we don’t live up to our bold confessions about Christ. I am sure if a random person asked us if we were Christian, we would have no problem agreeing or saying, ‘Yes! I am a Christian!’ But do our lives match our claims?

Peter was someone who had strong beliefs and convictions, though it took him a while to get his beliefs and actions to line up. Many of us may say we believe in Christ and say we follow him, but our words and actions tell different stories.

This discrepancy in our life is a sort of Christian denial or hypocrisy that we must overcome. We often say the right things but live contrary to those words.

Pressures at work can cause you to compromise your character. A stressful season can lead you to check out from your most important relationships.

How do we overcome the failure of denial?

In the last chapter of John’s Gospel, Jesus redeemed Peter's failure of denial by asking him a question 3 times. “Simon Peter, do you love me?” Of course, Peter said yes all three times, but Jesus gave him a command. “Feed and take care of my sheep!”

Jesus said that Peter needed to align his love confession with his actions.

Identify personal hypocrisy. We must identify areas where our actions and beliefs do not line up. Do we act one way at church and a different way at work? Do we tell our kids to do certain things that we personally don’t do?

This will be an ongoing, lifelong process. We will constantly battle our own selfishness and hypocrisy. But it’s an important battle to fight.

Embrace the mission. Jesus gave Peter a mission. “Feed my sheep.” Serve others. Embrace life as a Christ follower. When we embrace Christ’s mission, we have a goal for our life. It’s to honor and love God with our whole being.

It’s more than a one-time event. The mission of Christ becomes our life.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, I know I can often be a hypocrite.

I really do believe in you; help me live it.

Help me to align my actions with my beliefs.

I embrace my life as a Christ follower. Amen!