Remember back to school and the mathematical rule of “If A then B”?
We live most of our lives being frustrated with God. Come on really...admit it. Well I do. Usually I live out my life something like this...If I "A" act or perform a certain way then I expect God to then "B” behave in response. It doesn't work, does it? We find ourselves trying different diets of behaviors and performances only to be frustrated with the lack of outcome. We work so hard and deny ourselves of what we want to do and then look for God to show up and do something to reward our efforts. We basically test God. Where is that in the scriptures?! Why don't we just do the right thing for the sake of Christ?
Look at one of the roughest disciples that walked in the dust of Jesus. Look at Peter. This guy was one tough and rough handed fisherman. He was certainly not the most humble was he. He was quick to cut off an ear with a sword to defend his rabbi and friend. He was quick to push away the children looking to be blessed by Jesus, he was the first to jump out of the boat and walk on water, and he was the first to tell Jesus that he would never deny Him. Mind you he did most of these things in front of his fellow disciples. Humility and selflessness were not his strengths in the beginning. He was rough and course like sea salt.
Now I don't just mean to point out Peters faults and character flaws. He was an excellent student and disciple of Jesus. You see in those days to be picked by a rabbi was a huge honor and responsibility. Kids worked very hard to memorize the entire Torah and to make the cut. To be told, "follow me" by their rabbi meant that the rabbi believed that they had what it took. It meant that the rabbi believed the student could become a disciple of his "yoke" or theology and to learn to do what he did. It meant that many others were not picked and sent home with a blessing by the rabbi to work in the family business. That is where we find Peter’s story beginning in the gospel. Peter was working with this father in the fishing business. We read on to find Jesus walking up to him on the beach and simply calls out to Peter to "follow him". Strange to us, if you really think about it. But to a Jewish young adult, it was a big deal. It meant that Jesus believed in him enough to call him out and into His service.
As I read through the gospels I see Peter making a lot of the same mistakes as many of us. He was living his life trying to stand out to Jesus and be noticed. He acted out first and then thought about it. He longed for validation and to be set apart. Don't we all. Come on seriously, don't we try to act correctly to get something in return? We act right to get God to behave right. And when God doesn't act right we get frustrated and mad. That is usually when the enemy moves in for the kill. Have you ever had a conversation with God that went something like this, "I don't understand God, I have tithed, served my family, given my time at church, poured my life into the kids, and loved my wife fairly well...why aren't you blessing me?" Well, maybe I am the only one.
Here is what I am thinking. What if we turn the “If A then B” rule around? What if we said “Because of B then A”? Let me explain. What if we viewed life from a different fractal? What if I looked at it like this: God has behaved, so I am compelled to act? You see we know that God has behaved or acted for us already. He laid His life down for us. He battled his way to the earth He created, to be born in a body He designed, to live among a people He loved, to pay a ransom that we incurred and a debt we could not pay. He behaved on our behalf so that we could be like Him and love like Him. Peter understood this too.
As I read on in the gospel I see a rough fisherman become a humble, compassionate, risk taking, rock. Peter's course of nature is refined into what Jesus called the salt of the earth. His story was one of a broken man that was restored by Christ and because of that he was compelled to share with the world what he experienced. He shared the most powerful thing he had, his faith and story. Because he learned the hard way about the Life Jesus gave him he was moved without restraint to proclaim what God had done in his life.
So now I’m looking at the fact that I have been living my life backwards. What would my life look like if I lived with a reckless compulsion to share Life with others because Christ behaved first. To put it another way...I want to live my life because of Christ.
Peter was not the exception…he was an example.
