Surprise, Surprise!

"Know Thyself" is a famous ancient Greek aphorism attributed to at least six Greek sages and philosophers including Socrates. It was such a part of the Greek belief system that it was chiseled into the Temple of Apollo. Even though it has the tone of wisdom and we should try to understand who we are, it is also impossible to a large degree.

As a Psychology major in college I was fascinated by how powerful, yet mysterious the mind, will and emotions of a human being truly are. We possess great strength and hold great weaknesses all at the same time. Basic Protestant teaching is that man is totally depraved due to our sin nature. The Catholics on the other hand teach that man is basically good because he was created in the image of God, but sin has wounded mankind. Either way, we know we have within us the ability to think and do shockingly horrible things.

Peter, with all of his bravado, was a man who thought he knew himself, yet was self deceived. Jesus with his closest friends at His side says in Mark 14:27, "You will all fall away." To this Peter responds with such emotion that it caused the others to rally as well when he says, "Even if all fall away, I will not." Then he makes a statement that had to have made Jesus smile at least on the inside, "Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you." With this boisterous statement Peter is setting himself up for a great failure.

Like Peter we are often filled with good intentions to follow the Lord in every way. Our emotions carry us along after we hear a passionate sermon only to see our commitment dissipate over time. We make a pledge to ourselves to read His word daily and find that our will is not as strong as we thought it was. To understand how our mind, will and emotions all work together I would highly recommend the works of Dallas Willard, especially Matters of the Heart and The Spirit of the Disciplines. These two books have been a great enlightenment to me.

Peter's emotions were not enough to keep his intellect and will from turning away from Jesus. The amazing thing is that Jesus knew and predicted that Peter and the others would fall away. And for Peter, Jesus told him exactly how it was going to happen. To me the most wonderful aspect of this passage is the fact that Jesus told them that even after they fell away He would come back to them. Two thousand years later Jesus is still doing the same thing for us!

Let me make a distinction here between what Jesus calls "falling away" and what Scripture calls rebellion against God. There is a difference. The words that Jesus used to describe the upcoming failure of His friends come from the words "to bait" or "to lure." It literally means to be "entrapped." Peter's heart was in the right place, but he forgot that the devil and his own sinful nature could easily set a trap for him. Bravado yes, wisdom no!

You and I must always remember that evil is patient! Never forget that truth. You can have victory after victory and evil will patiently stand by for the right moment to spring. Peter was with Jesus when he made such a bold statement, and evil was standing by just waiting for the right time to take him down. We have all fallen away from the Lord as we have been entrapped by our sinful nature, the schemes of demonic activity and the lure of this world. Like Peter we have quickly learned that the very sin we say we will never commit is the very sin that can easily embarrass us.

Jonathon Edwards one of America's greatest theologians of the early 1700's wrote,

"How ready are we to go astray! How easily we are drawn aside into innumerable snares, while in the mean time we are bold and confident, and doubt not but we are right and safe! How much do we stand in need of the wisdom, the power, the condescension, patience, forgiveness, and gentleness of our good Shepherd!"

Peter fell away while Judas walked away. We see this over and again in Scripture and in life. David fell away, and Saul walked away. Mark fell away and Demas walked away. Jesus knows that we will stumble and fall. When I fall physically it takes me by surprise. I don't plan on tripping over raised concrete on the sidewalk, nor do I plan to stumble backwards by stepping back on something out of place in my garage. The falling that Jesus mentions to Peter and to us is the kind that comes as a surprise.

There is a huge difference between falling and a calculated walking away. As Paul tells us of his once trusted companion Demas, "Demas having loved this present world has forsaken me." There are many who contemplate their next sinful action because their heart is in rebellion against the Lord. They really want salvation on their terms. They want a life that is filled with the junk of this world and just a bit of salvation so they can escape eternal punishment.

Because we have both the ability to "fall away" and "walk away" from the Lord we must draw closer and closer to the Lord. As we grow older we should grow our roots deeper with Christ. Satan is organized in every way, just like an army. He has those who work on keeping people from the Gospel. He has others who work on tripping up new believers. And, he has those who work to bring down those who have been walking with Jesus for many years. Think of the hideous laughter in the demonic realm when a Christian that has been walking with Jesus for years, and now in the later part of their life walks away from the Lord.

As we age, we must guard our hearts from pride, bitterness, envy, jealousy, greed, and lust. These are the sins that will make our hearts turn away. We are all capable of great good, but also of great evil. Guard our hearts Lord!

Dan

Copyright 2008 Eternity Minded MinistriesAll rights reserved