Changed and Yet the Same
I would be willing to bet that if Peter looked back on his life, today’s reading would be his lowest point. The man he had just hours before professed to never leave, he abandoned and denied. The man they left everything behind to follow was left behind by the very men who had sworn to never fall away. The Lord has been teaching me so much as we read through scripture. I have been a serious studier of His word for thirty years, and yet the Holy Spirit continues to show me new aspects of what I am reading that has changed my heart.
As we have been studying through Mark, I have seen these men and women as more than characters on a page. I see them as real individuals who often look a lot like you and me. One of the things that the Lord has shown me is that, while we change when we encounter our Savior, we are still the same person God created us as. Consider Paul. His transformation from persecutor of the Lord to servant of Christ is extremely drastic. One day he hunts down Christians to execute them, the next he preaches to lead people to Christ. Still, his character, his personality, remains the same throughout his life. Think of it. Before meeting Jesus on the road to Damasus, Paul (known as Saul at the time) was a Pharisee. He was a staunch proponent of following the law unswervingly. His personality was one of rigid obedience. After his conversion, his character remained the same. Though no longer a Pharisee, he still demanded that Christians (or followers of the Way) stand steadfast in their faith. In Acts 15, we see Paul and his longtime partner, Barnabas split ways because Mark (the author of the book we are reading and Barnabas’ nephew) had shown fear and weakness by abandoning Paul and Barnabas in Pamphylia. In Galatians 2, Paul gets in Peter’s face and accuses him of being one way with the Gentiles and another way with the Jews. Paul’s conversion didn’t change him into another person. It changed his focus and his drive. What he had set up as his authority changed, not his staunch commitment to authority. That was his personality.
Peter’s personality was that of someone who leaped before he looked. He was the perfect person to join a movement like this because he was quick to jump on the bandwagon and give everything to it…. At least while the wagon was rolling along. His follow-through lacked commitment. Today’s reading opens up a window into Peter’s character. He was a fighter, but he was also a survivor. This account, as well as his dispute with Paul in Galatians, shows us that Peter was willing to step out of the boat and his comfort zone but quickly began to sink when danger threatened. That was Peter’s personality.
The cool thing about our personalities remaining the same throughout our salvation is that we get a chance to see the power of God working through our weaknesses. Peter’s weakness was his follow-through. He was quick to jump out of the boat but soon to begin to sink. He was quick to pledge devotion but soon ran when difficulties arose. Now, his personality did not change. We see him struggling with this throughout his ministry. However, God did amazing things through this man. Though he was weak, and his commitment was often tethered to his success, God gave him the strength to see his ministry through to the end. Peter gave his entire life for the gospel. When he was sentenced to be crucified about 33 years after Jesus returned to Heaven, he insisted that he was not worthy to die in the same manner as his Savior and was therefore crucified upside-down.
How many people heard the gospel because of this man who hid in the courtyard and denied his savior, we may never know. He was not perfect. He was often scared and responded like a wild animal pressed against the wall. It is because of these weaknesses that his message speaks so much to so many of us. It is because of these weaknesses that God’s perfection and power are seen so clearly in his life. God doesn’t want us to become something other than how He created us to be. He wants us to learn how to use all of who we are for His glory. All of our character flaws were given to us by the Master Planner. Let God use both our strengths and our weaknesses to reach the lost and encourage the flock of Christ. Who we were does not need to be forgotten. We need to be perfected daily through the cleansing blood of Christ.
(Written by Keegan Harkins.)
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