Jesus’ Best Friend

                Have you ever had a friend or loved one that you were so close to that you thought they would never betray your trust?  Did you trust them with everything you have?  Did you ever have to question their loyalty to you?  Did they turn out to be that person or did you lose that person because they turned their back on you?  How did you react to that person?

                Simon Peter was that type of person in the life of Jesus.  He was one of the first people Jesus called on when he started His mission.  Jesus called a dirty fisherman out of the boat and

befriended him.  I would dare to say that Jesus and Peter became the best of friends.  They were together almost every day and Peter became one of the more vocal members of the group.  Peter was one of the people Jesus could trust with everything.  Peter showed his loyalty on many occasions but none greater than in the garden when Jesus was arrested.  He was ready to fight to save his friend from being arrested.  Luke 22:33 tells us of the loyalty that Peter had for Jesus.  It reads, “Lord I am ready to go to prison with you, and even to die with you.”  Don’t we all wish we had a friend like Peter?

            But Jesus knew Peter better than he even knew himself.  Jesus knew that Peter was loyal to Him until the pressure of the world got to him.  Jesus even predicted that Peter would turn his back on his best friend.  John 13:38 says, “Die for me?  I tell you the truth, Peter—before the rooster crows

tomorrow morning, you will deny me three times that you even know me.”  So Jesus knew that His friend would walk away from Him when he was confronted by others about his relationship with Jesus.  Peter didn’t have the strength to hold up his end of their friendship when the world came knocking.

                How many of us are really like Peter?   Not just in our relationships with our friends but in our relationship with Jesus.  Do we really take the stand for Jesus when the world looks at us and says you are a follower of Him?  I know in your heart right now you are answering the question just as Peter did, “I am ready to go to prison with you, and even die with you.”  But are you really stronger than Jesus’ best friend?  I pray that you are never put in the situation where you have to make that decision.  But if you are and you follow the same path as Peter, then remember there is still hope for you. 

                Jesus gives us that hope, just as He did Peter.  Luke 22:31-32 is that hope.  It reads, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat.  32 But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail.  So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen your brothers.”  Jesus knew the heart of Peter, just as He knows our heart, and knew that Peter would come back to Him.  Jesus knew Satan was ready to make Peter’s life hard and Peter would fail under the pressure.  But He also wanted to let Peter know that he could come back to Him and be a stronger leader to his brothers.

                So I ask again, are you really stronger than Jesus’ best friend?  Peter succumbs to the pressure of Satan and turned his back on Christ, we will also turn our backs on Christ at some point.  But when we do, we can rely on the hope that Jesus gave to Peter.  We can repent and be brought back into the fold with Him.  But that is only the first step in the process.  We can’t just stop there; no we must now be ready to strengthen our brothers.  We have to be ready to stand in the gap for another or give a testimony of our trials to show others the redemptive power of Jesus.

 

                Jesus, thank you for showing us, through Your friend Peter, that we can fail You but there is a way back to You.  Thank you for giving us hope in our times of failing You.  You made a way for us to have a relationship with you and thank you for wanting to have relationship with us.  Lord I pray for the person that the world is pressuring to the breaking point right now.  I pray that they will come through those trials and will have a testimony for others that show Your shinning light.  Lord I pray for those that are strengthening others with their testimony.  They may have come through a fire, but that doesn’t mean they are done with their own tribulations so I pray for them as well.  Strengthen us Lord to handle the situations we find ourselves in.  In Your​ name I pray, Amen.