36 “Lord, where are You going?” Simon Peter asked.
Jesus answered, “Where I am going, you cannot follow Me now, but you will follow later.”
37 “Lord,” said Peter, “why can’t I follow You now? I will lay down my life for You.”
38 “Will you lay down your life for Me?” Jesus replied. “Truly, truly, I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.

REFLECTIONS

Written by Annie Davies

This passage makes me reflect on sin and my own experience of the Christian life. There have been times in my life when I have been so keen for Christ, so certain I will go and be a missionary overseas, and open to embrace every kind of challenge and suffering for Christ, to make him known. Like Peter, I can say to Jesus, “I will lay down my life for you”.

Then I have kids, and suddenly I am not so bold. I am not as willing to make sacrifices for Christ when it may be hard for my family, and I can slide into wanting a comfortable life. Struggles with sleeplessness and busyness with kids take over, and doubts about God creep in. How do I go from such certainty and zeal for Christ to wavering in my willingness? It makes me wonder how easily, in my changed circumstances, I might slip into denying Christ entirely. The power of sin is shocking and scary to think about!

This reminds me of what Paul writes in Romans 7:21, which describes a similar struggle with sin: “Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me”. We know and love Christ and want to follow him, yet evil and sin are right there and we need to keep fighting them. This continual struggle seems to be part of the Christian life.

I am so thankful Jesus was glorified like he said he would be. Through his death and resurrection, Jesus has defeated sin and death. Despite the struggles, I am encouraged to keep struggling and fighting sin. We can trust God and hold onto his promises that Christ’s death has paid the penalty for sin and we will go to be with Christ later.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Annie is a member of our Fairfield Morning congregation.