God Never Gives Up!
Jesus said to Peter the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah,
do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him
the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord,
You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to
him, “Feed My sheep.”
John 21: 17
We grieve for Peter, who “wept bitterly” after denying Christ three
times (Matthew 26:75). But who among us has not failed the Lord?
So, what are we to make of our unfaithfulness? What hope is there
for us?
The same hope Jesus conveyed to Peter following the Resurrection.
By the Sea of Galilee (John 21:1), Jesus commissioned Peter to be
the shepherd of His
flock.
Just as Peter had denied Christ three times, so Christ commissioned
Peter three times. We must take heart from the exchange: God never
disowns or gives up on His
children.
Paul wrote that the good work God began in us will be completed
because it is God working in us (Philippians 1:6; 2:13). We may be
unfaithful, but God never is (2 Timothy 2:13).
If you have failed God in some way,
take heart! God will complete the work He
began in you (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24).
"O Jesus. . .open thine arms,
and take me in. . . and love
the faithless sinner still."
Charles Wesley