by Anita Miles
“Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; Renew our days as of old.”
Lamentations 5:21
Recently in a conversation with a friend, the discussion was how our age was affecting different attitudes and opinions we’ve held through our younger years. We’re both attempting to learn the midlife transition…And somehow the things that we were so opinionated on, seem a bit more trivial than they used to. Our relationships are changing in ways that we prefer less and more meaningful over quantity and shallowness. I suppose this is one of the reasons Proverbs is full of instruction about how wisdom comes with age. You finally see things from a 360 degree view instead of just as a linear opinion. Life has happened and sometimes perspectives become different when pain is experienced. Some people become more compassionate, while others become more harsh. It’s hard to say how all that goes down, but it happens. No matter who you are - the old adage is correct - “the ONLY thing consistent in life is change!”
John Maxwell is a motivational speaker and a few years ago, I heard him say something that I wrote down. I felt it would do two things for me, personally. First, it would help me understand people when things change for them. Secondly, it would help me understand myself when I would see something differently than I used to.
This is what he said:
“People change in these 4 seasons:
When they hurt enough that they HAVE to…
When they see enough that they are INSPIRED to…
When they learn enough that they WANT to…
When they receive enough that they are ABLE to…”
Now…if any of us were to think long and hard about someone who has changed, we would probably be able to put them in one of those 4 categories.
I was recently cleaning out the drafts box of my email and I ran across a thought I had written down in 2013 that I was pondering at the time. If you were to look at the search function of my Bible app, that thought included one of the Scriptures that I’ve gone back to time and time again. If you open my Bible, there is a post-it note with this one Scripture. I’ve been preoccupied with it for more than 10 years now. Jesus says to Peter…
“but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.” Luke 22:32 KJV
I suppose I wanted to be inside Peter and Jesus’ head at that time and understand why Jesus said what He said to Peter. It’s before the crucifixion when Peter is trying to convince Jesus that he’s on his side. It’s obvious here that Jesus exuded a confidence in who Peter really was, but that would take time to reveal.
Knowing the betrayal that would follow, it’s easy to know on this side of history that Peter’s faith failed him for a little while and he did exactly as Jesus had predicted. He denied he knew Jesus. He denied he was on the team of the disciples. And on this side, it’s really easy to pick Peter apart that he should have known better. Yet, Jesus knew something about Peter. He knew that once he had seen enough, he would be an unstoppable force for the Kingdom of Christ and in the strong formation of what would become the early Christian church.
I’ve often thought about this and the fact that Peter is walking side by side with Christ, himself. He’d witnessed more miracles in the few years of Jesus’ ministry than you or I will ever witness in our entire lifetime. And here is a man who Jesus hand picked and yet is pointing out still needs a conversion experience. Why would Jesus choose a man who struggled in his faith so? And how in the world could Peter still be “unconverted!!” Up to this point, he had “followed faithfully.”
I still haven’t come to a conclusion that would probably appease the theologians. But this is what I HAVE come to understand. The humanity in us all needs an example like Peter. Sometimes, I fear that we have made the need for perfect sanctification so stringent, (sometimes even before true conversion), that we lose sight of the fact that we are still human. When people who have been raised on the church pews and have known about Christian living have personal failures, the grace other Christians can extend can be underwhelming, at best. Yet Peter offers us such hope for this. Even for the man who walked side by side with Christ, he still needed an inward conversion. And it came… Eventually…
It wasn’t until after the Christ that Peter denied was crucified in front of him. Although the burden of his guilt weighed heavily upon him, it wasn’t until he saw the risen Christ that his heart was RADICALLY changed.
I laid all of that out to say this…. Many times, our Christian culture is an easy place to fit in. The music is exciting, the people are mostly friendly, and sometimes just blending in becomes what we do. It’s a safe place. It’s good for families. It’s good for our social lives. And there is a bond within our churches that gives people a place to belong…especially for the younger generation, who are on the prowl for a meaningful life. And don’t get me wrong - all of that is good and wonderful.
Yet, sometimes in the midst of all of our familiarity, there are those who have not genuinely been converted. The gift of salvation is claimed, but true conversion has yet to be experienced. And the full potential of a person has not yet been obtained. But Peter gives me hope…
Unlike us, he was literally side-by-side with Jesus and still needed his heart turned upside down. But after his true conversion, the greatest preacher in the history of the church was born.
Sooo... if I may encourage us, let’s not get side-tracked in the ups and downs and the lack of enthusiasm in the lives of people you think should be better than they are. Remember, Peter was right in the middle of the presence of Christ and needed a change. Pray for God to show up in the lives of your people in ways that will lead to a true conversion. And sometimes that involves pain. So I don’t know who needs to hear this, but whatever you do - DON’T. GIVE. UP! A life changing conversion could be just one experience away.
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