Skip to main content

IF



I’m learning to become excited about Jesus’ ifs.  If I want what Jesus wants for my life there is one thing I can count on.  It is that what He wants for me is not what I want at first glance.  It makes me feel much better to know that the leader of the disciples, Peter, reacts to Jesus’ ifs that way too.
I really appreciate Peter.  He always opened his mouth and said what everyone else was thinking but may have been afraid to say.  I would rather risk ridicule than to live in ignorance.
Even though Peter denied Jesus three times, Jesus did not fire him from being the rock on which He would build His church.  He gave Peter far more than a second chance; rather He gave him every chance he needed to make him into the kind of man that legend tells us watched his wife be crucified for her faith, and then asked to be crucified upside down since he didn’t feel worthy to die in the same manner as his Savior.  I love this about Jesus.  He doesn’t give up on us even when we would give up on ourselves.
Jesus had a gentle restoration process for Peter, first visiting him privately after His resurrection, then affirming his inclusion with the other disciples when He first revealed Himself to all of the disciples.  Ultimately He gave Peter a do-over when He asked him three times if he loved Him, then assigned Him to feed His sheep.  During this same conversation, Jesus told Peter how he would be led to a cross.
Peter seemed to digest this reality, but he wanted to know more.  He wondered if John would come to the same fate.  This was when Jesus explained what it means to fully follow Him.  He told Peter: If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me (John 21:22).
Peter’s life demonstrates that he accepted Jesus’ if.  He surrendered to the if of Jesus willingly and lovingly.  I’m sure it wasn’t easy, but He had learned that Jesus’ if was far better for them than any plan he could make for his own life. 
The great if leads to a crossroad.  Are you willing and ready to walk the path of if?  Do you believe that God holds the wisdom you don’t have?  Do you want God’s if to play out in your life?  Are you ready to open your eyes to what Jesus wants for you?
Copyright © 2105.  Deborah R Newman  teatimeforyoursoul.com  All Rights Reserved.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Pilgrimage that Started with Tears

                Who would think I would shed tears deciding to set out on a wonderful journey that I have longed to take for many years?   Before I was ready to fully accept God’s invitation for a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, I had to journey to a place of agreement between what my soul wanted and what the Lord wanted for me.   For years I have been declining opportunities to travel to Israel—not because I didn’t want to go but because I wanted to go with my husband by my side.   I know that God could have arranged that for me, but instead He asked me to accept that He wanted me to be willing to go and leave everything behind.   When I was asked to make a decision about going on a Pilgrimage to Jerusalem, God gave me this verse in answer to my prayer -- Debi, observe therefore all the commands I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and take over the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess (Deuteronomy 11:8).   I decided through tears that I would go on
2 comments
Read more

Day Nine - Journey's End

    I didn't think I could write today, but do to bad weather we now have extra time at the airport. Today we looked over the model city and I can't believe all I have learned. Some of the excavations since the model was completed reveal differences in what they built in the model. What amazed me was that I could see what wasn't where I expected based on what I experienced. Here is a wide view of the Model City which is 1:5 scale.  It was created by a Jewish man who wanted his son to understand what Jerusalem was once like.  Someone said that if you didn't see Jerusalem during the time of Herod the Great, you have never seen a beautiful city.  Do you understand what I mean about how grand this Temple was?            Next we saw the Dead Sea Scrolls.  I learned a lot about the Essenes.  They lived like monks today.  Like Jesus, they were not happy with the way the Temple was being run and they came to the desert to offer truly holy sacrifices, untainted by the mismanage
2 comments
Read more

Not Treating Others as Their Sins Deserve

            Turning the other cheek has become a Christian cliché.   These beautiful and penetrating words of Jesus are minimized when we humans try to apply them without God.   The best we can do to achieve Jesus’ description in our power is repress our anger about the way someone sins against us.   This only serves to make us look stupid to the world, creates ulcers, or causes an unplanned, embarrassing, public explosion of anger.   Jesus spoke these words and many others like them to invoke the spiritual understanding that it is impossible to live out His directions for our lives without Him.   He has no intention of our trying to take His work on in our flesh.             It happens all the time in marriages and other relationships where one person who thinks they need to be a certain way to please God centers his or her relationships around keeping peace.   I don’t believe that kind of turning the other cheek is very pleasing to God.               No, God is inviting us
2 comments
Read more