Here is the revelation that is shaping my life today – we are all passionate hypocrites stumbling like children into the bold, big life of the Kingdom.
Mark 14:27-31 TPT
[27] Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away and desert me. This will fulfill the prophecy of the Scripture that says: I will strike down the shepherd and all the sheep will scatter far and wide. [28] “But after I am risen, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.” [29] Then Peter spoke up and said, “Even if all the rest lose their faith and fall away, I will still be beside you, Jesus!” [30] Jesus said, “Mark my words, Peter. This very night, before the rooster crows twice a few hours from now, you will utterly deny that you know me three times.” [31] But Peter was insistent and replied emphatically, “I will absolutely not! Under no circumstances will I ever deny you-even if I have to die with you!” And all the others repeated the same thing.
Observation
Here is the challenge of being a Christian – “ You will all fall away and desert me.” I passionately want to be a better person than I am. I want to walk in the ways of the Kingdom with the same passion as Peter “even if I have to die with you!” But when it comes to it I see that so often I fall short of my passionate intentions, I fall away and desert the life I aspire to live. This is the life of following Jesus, we all walk as hypocrites – a person whose actions contradict stated beliefs. The finger often gets pointed with the accusation “hypocrite,” but rather than defend myself I must accept the accusation. I must live in this tension of my passionate desire to live the life of Gods intention, and to name myself as one who desires this, but then to live with my failure in the moment to be all I ascribe passionately to be. We are all Peters’.
We are all Peters’ and Jesus knows it. He knows that we will deny him in the heat of the moment, or at times even when it’s not that hot. But he does not lower the life he calls me too, in order to make it easier or more achievable, rather he covers me in forgiveness so like a small child I can fall down and just get up again and try it over. I see this is the life of following Jesus, I am always falling at my attempts to move into the beauty, freedom and life of his latest revelation to me, but he is always picking me up, steadying me, and then walking with me as I try and walk with him again.
We are all hypocrites like Peter, but hypocrisy can crush or it can glorify. Too often i see Jesus followers desert the intimacy of their walk with him because they cannot handle their internal, or the external, accusation of hypocrite. But put on a new lens. My hypocrisy glorifies God. It reveals just how gracious, merciful and loving He is. He never walks away from hypocrites, He forgives with delight and pours out His grace and presence enabling their next hypocritical attempt at Kingdom life.
Application
“”Even if all the rest lose their faith and fall away, I will still be beside you, Jesus!” I will live with this passion flowing hypocritically from my life. I will not desert my walking with God into the expression of the fullness of the life He has already rescued me into despite my failings and falling. I will not defend my hypocrisy by lowering my aspirations, I will live in the tension of the contradiction that is my life. I will live knowing forgiveness covers me everyday, so I will reach further into Kingdom life without fear.
Response
Thank you that you love hypocrites and make it possible for them to walk intimately and passionately with you. Thank you for forgiveness that restores me immediately to rightness of relationship with you. Thank you that you do not ask me to dull my passion until I can perform its aspirations. I want to live a life that is big, bold and audacious, a kingdom life, even when I am falling like a child learning to take its first steps. I love that you know that before the rooster crows I will utterly fall on my face, and you will be there in the newness of the morning to pick me up and send me out with outrageous passion again. How blessed I am to do life with you!
Meditation
How do you handle your hypocrisy? Do you lose passion, lose your walk, or glorify God?
JOURNEY DEEPER
