A few centuries ago, two men with distinct characters lived on this earth. Every man on earth sure has distinct characters you might say, right? I bring up these men’s characters in this blog post for salient reasons as highlighted in the header and title. The first man’s name was Apostle Simon Peter and the other was Judas Iscariot. These men were great in their rights and played essential roles in the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. For example, Judas Iscariot kept the money bag for the apostles – John 12:6. I can deduce from this verse that Judas Iscariot collected tithes, donations given to Jesus or any of the disciples, he probably also allocated funds for food and other expenses as they journeyed through Jerusalem and so on. Peter on the other hand was trusted with the church of Christ by Jesus Christ Himself, I also perceive that Peter was trusted with secrets that the other disciples did not have access to. For example, Jesus Christ only took Peter, James, and John to the Mount of Transfiguration. And Jesus Christ told them not to say anything about it to anyone till He was raised from the dead – Matthew 17:1-9.
In summary, these men walked with the Lord Jesus Christ and they both knew Jesus to a great extent, they fed from the same word that proceeded the mouth of Jesus Christ, probably fed from the food, and drank the same water that all the disciples did yet they had different outcomes. Apostle Peter loved Jesus Christ so much and thought he could “catch a grenade” for Jesus Christ. He was so confident in his ability to stand with and for Jesus Christ that even when Jesus Christ told him he would deny Him three times, he exclaimed saying to Jesus, “Even in death, I will not deny you!”. Unknown to Mr Peter, he wasn’t as strong in faith as he thought. Without a doubt, he loved Jesus Christ in words and in some actions but his faith was just not fully formed or built at the time because by the time the temptation came – he fell three solid times. This is where apostle Paul’s admonition in I Corinthians 10:12-13 could have come in handy for Peter – if you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall”.
Something that I believe is worth taking note of is the fact that our Lord Jesus knows us a lot more than we can ever imagine. Therefore when He points out things about ourselves that need to be worked on, we should take it with all seriousness and take action to curb whether it is by prayer or fasting. Instead of acting out of self-righteousness putting our trust and confidence in mere flesh just as Peter did.
On the other hand, we had Judas Iscariot who gave himself to the works of the flesh, instead of diligently safe-keeping and properly accounting for the funds in the treasury, he stole from the treasury- John 12:6. He kept at these regardless of the sermons of eternal life that he heard from the Lord Jesus Christ. This ultimately led to his eternal damnation. In my opinion, he had the opportunity to repent of his sins after he tried to return the blood money to the Pharisees. He perhaps should have confessed his sins, and cried out to the Lord for mercy instead of killing himself -the Lord would have shown him mercy. Now that is the difference between him and Peter; Peter denied Jesus Christ three solid times. Imagine, your friend denying you in public three times! But the Lord did not hold against him as soon as he repented of his actions.
With all of these said my dear brother and sister in faith who may think they have fallen way off the grid, the Lord wants for all of us to be saved – I Timothy 2:4-6. Therefore, come back home to him today, this minute. Confess to Him all of the ways you have fallen and ask Him to help you to get back up. And to my dear brother and sister in faith who are overly confident in their ability to stand tall and strong in the Lord till the end, this is a reminder that we stand and run in faith by the Grace of God. Let us not grow weary of doing our spiritual check-ins with the Holy Spirit, while we weigh ourselves against God’s word often. May we all be found standing tall and strong till the end of time in Jesus’ name.