After they had eaten, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these others do?" John 21:15, GNT

 

Many people are unwilling to give someone a second chance. My wife and I were discussing someone we knew who had made a big mistake, thereby ruining a relationship of many years. The other person in the relationship was unwilling to give him a second chance because the trust was broken. It is difficult to give someone a second chance if trust is broken.

 

Between Jesus and Peter, there was a very special relationship – one where trust was very important. They were in each other’s presence on a daily basis. Peter is one of the three disciples who made up the inner circle of Jesus’ followers. He was there on the Mount of Transfiguration. He was also one of the three who went to pray with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. He was definitely in a position of leadership. He was, after all, the “rock” and on the rock of his declaration, Jesus was to build his church.

 

At the end, Peter was to be the one who betrayed the trust Jesus had placed in him. “I swear that I don’t know that man,” Peter said, when he was confronted by the servant woman in the courtyard. The fact that Peter denied knowing Jesus does not mean that Jesus did not know Peter. “Do you love me more than these others do?” he asked Peter after they had finished eating their breakfast of fish and bread on the beach. “Yes, Lord,” he answered, “you know that I love you.” He said this not once, but three times.

 

There is no doubt that God loves us. We see the evidence everywhere in the Bible. He gives us, as he did with Peter, not only a second chance but as many chances as we might need. The big question is how much I love him and how does my love become visible? Can people see my love for God in how I behave every day?

 

Prayer: Lord, we pray that you will help us not to deny you. Help us to be able to say the same as Peter – you know that I love you. Amen