One of the most encouraging aspects of the end of John’s Gospel is Jesus’ interaction with Peter. If you recall, Jesus had told Peter that he would deny Him three times, and Peter, having foreknowledge of what he promised never to do, fulfilled the prophecy and ran away with bitter tears. When Jesus came back, there was a restoration that needed to happen between Peter and Him – not for Jesus’ sake but for Peter’s. As far as Jesus was concerned, the forgiveness Peter needed had been sufficiently dealt with on the cross. Now Peter needed to accept the forgiveness. After all, he had publicly denied Christ three times, and now he needed to publicly confess Christ three times to move forward. When a person loves Christ, there is no limit to what he will do for the cause of Christ. Peter’s mistakes didn’t matter because our pasts are not as important as our futures. Where we’ve been does carry consequences, but far more important than where we have been is where we are heading. Peter was heading in a direction of trusting Jesus fully – a direction that included the being the first leader of the Church. How could that come from a man who had denied Jesus at such a critical time? Because God loves to give second chances.
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