Restored

The sound of the rooster had hardly faded  from his ears, when Peter was gripped by remorse.  Embarrassed by his past, he wished he could have his time over again. How could he have been so weak and fearful?

Of course, Peter would felt bad after denying Jesus, but Satan seized the opportunity to condemn him terribly.  The devil seeks to sow lies into our hearts after we have failed.  Lies like, “Jesus will not want to meet with you; He’ll never want to work miracles for you; you have annoyed God too much; you have lost your call” and “you don’t really love God at all.”  

But look how Jesus restores him.  First, He comes to him. God always initiates and is never put off by our failures! Then He calls Peter and the other disciples children, affirming their family relationship with God. He then helps them with a miracle showing that God is not offended and still wants to bless him. Next, Jesus arranges for the fire and the coals to bring Peters past memories and shame to mind, only so He could speak over them with truth. He renews Peters call, and finally He gets Peter to affirm three times that he still loves Jesus.  By doing that, Jesus is undoing the lie the devil had been telling Peter. “You don’t love Him so how could be love you?”

Friend, it matters not what we think of ourselves or what the devil wants us to think, but it does matter what Jesus thinks.  Let Jesus have the final word, He loves you, believes in you, His plans for you are still good and is forgiveness of our failures just increases our gratitude and devotion to Him.