You Don’t Have to Fall to Change

I have recently realised I share a lot of traits with the apostle Peter more than anyone else.

In Luke 22: 31-32, Jesus said,

“And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:

But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fails not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.”

It was Peter Satan wanted because he was not converted.

What Does It Mean To Be Converted?

To be converted means to be changed, similar to how a caterpillar transforms into a butterfly. Unfortunately, from the moment Peter began to walk with Jesus this transformation had not begun. When Jesus talked with Nicodemus, He emphasised, in John 3:3 that unless we are born again, we shall never see heaven. However, there are many people who have been baptised but will never see heaven, because it is one thing to be baptised and another thing to be raised with the spirit of baptism.

In the Book Desires of Ages, Ellen G. White wrote about Peter:

Unconverted Peter

“Before his fall, Peter was always speaking unadvisedly, from the impulse of the moment. He was always ready to correct others, and to express his mind, before he had a clear comprehension of himself or of what he had to say.

Converted Peter

But the converted Peter was very different. He retained his former fervour, but the grace of Christ regulated his zeal. He was no longer impetuous, self-confident, and self-exalted, but calm, self-possessed, and teachable.” (Desires Of Ages 812.5)

If you had told Peter of this issue, he would not have believed you, but it took a fall for him to realise. How many times have we credited a fall as the turning point? But may I suggest to you that Peter did not have to fall to know this about himself, nor did he have to fall to change.

More than you know, God would prefer to teach us lessons if we lived in his presence than by learning from painful losses. Better than any other way, God would desire that we lived in his presence, and gain knowledge rather than learning them from heartbreaks that could have been avoided.

This is what Jesus wanted to do for Peter, when He approached him three times in the Garden of Gethsemane to pray, but he chose to sleep. Yet shortly after, it was three times Peter denied Jesus. That one-hour prayer could have changed everything.

• The story of Peter did not have to go that way it did if he had prayed.

• Your life does not have to go the way it is going if you are determined to level up your devotional life.

• Failures do not have to be the only way to learn ourselves if we would choose to live in the presence of God.

  
  

I long for my life to be like John the Baptist whom Ellen G. White wrote:

“He looked upon the King in His beauty, and self was lost sight of. He beheld the majesty of holiness and knew himself to be inefficient and unworthy. It was God’s message that he was to declare. It was in God’s power and His righteousness that he was to stand. He was ready to go forth as Heaven’s messenger, unawed by the human, because he had looked upon the Divine.”

Living in the presence of God, John saw himself through the same lens God saw him. This humbled him and allowed John to develop a holy confidence that was not built on human’s applause. “He could stand fearless in the presence of earthly monarchs because with trembling he had bowed before the King of kings.” Maranatha The Lord Is Coming, April 18.