As I was reading this chapter in the Bible, I got a deeper understanding of the prediction of Peter’s denial. When Jesus told Peter in Verse 27 that His disciples will be made to stumble because of Him, Peter was quick to respond that He will not be made to stumble. Like Peter, a lot of times we display the same quality of self-confidence when the Lord is speaking to us to warn or correct us. There is a big difference between self-confidence and standing on the right foundation. In I Corinthians 3:11, the Bible says, “For no other foundation can anyone lay other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” We need to develop the attitude of humility when the Lord is speaking to correct or warn us. For example, if Peter had inquired of Jesus Christ what will cause him to stumble, develop a broken and a contrite spirit, and examined the truth in the word Jesus spoke, He probably wouldn’t have denied Jesus three times. And relating this to our lives, when God says to someone, you are proud and you need to change, instead of getting defensive, it’s better to totally surrender and realize that the Lord knows our frame and He that searches the heart of man definitely knows what can make us to fall.

 

Looking at the experience in the Garden when the Lord asked the disciples to stay up and watch because His spirit was troubled, they could barely stay up with Him, yet the Lord Jesus gave himself to them, calmed the storm in times of trouble, and rewrote the stories of their lives. The act of the disciples falling asleep contradicted what Peter spoke in Verse 27 that he will not be made to stumble. The fact that He couldn’t even stay up to watch showed that indeed at that point in his life, he was capable of denying Jesus which he did 3 times. Relating this again to the example of pride, when the Lord says someone is proud, the mere fact that the person being corrected denies it and replies with confidence that he or she isn’t a proud person, shows that the person is proud. 

 

In this year 2007, let us not put ourselves on unjust scales. Let’s not measure ourselves by ourselves. When God says to you, change this area of your life, it’s not for you to question it or boast with self-confidence that you are perfect in that area. Also, don’t have a false idea of who you are in Christ. Sometimes we think because we hold a high position in Church, see visions, speak in tongues, do praise and worship, give sparingly, or fast, we are perfect or beyond correction. However, let us lay aside all the positions or works and give regard to the truth in what God is speaking. Apostle Paul said in II Corinthians 11:6, “But though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge” and in II Timothy 3: 16-17, it says, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” I believe God is taking the time to furnish and beautify our lives, so we shouldn’t let pride, self-confidence, or self-righteousness get in the way of our spiritual progress. God corrects us because He loves us; the best way to show that we love Him too is by changing instead of getting offended.

 

Proverbs 13:8: “Poverty and shame shall be to him that refuseth instruction; but he that regardeth reproof shall be honoured.”

 

I Corinthians 10:12: “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he falls”