Wednesday is For One Year, So is Thursday

As we are reading through Acts, my thoughts go back to Peter’s denial of Christ just prior to his death. What an awful emotional experience that must have been as he tried so hard to stay close to Christ in Christ’s darkest hours and yet failed so miserably.

When I was in college our Brock West dorm had a flag football rivalry with a dorm team from Lawlor Hall. Our junior year we faced off in the semifinals of the playoffs. Basically this game would determine the champion for that year. The first pass thrown to me was a sideline pattern. It was a high pass, I jumped, and it sailed right through my hands. I was very frustrated with myself. That first pass was important both for my confidence, and more so for the quarterback’s confidence in my ability to catch his pass. The defender saw my frustration, and said, “Don’t worry, you won’t drop another one.” And he was right! I even snagged a hail mary at the end of the game to give us a last second victory and the title.

I use this illustration to point to the fact that sometimes our failures are used to bolster our faith. God uses them so that we will not drop another pass. Look at Peter, what terrible failure, and yet he didn’t drop another pass. What power and boldness he proclaimed Christ with throughout the rest of his life. Never again would he deny his Lord, and upon him and the other apostles, Christ built his church, his bride.

Failure is an awful feeling, but in the Chistian life God works this together for our good. This does not mean that we blame God for our failures or try and fail more. Peter was entirely responsible for his failure of denying Christ, but God used it to make a powerful apostle. What about you and your life, have your failed Christ at any point? Seek forgiveness and let it bolster your faith so that you do not drop another pass.