Denying Your God

In my younger years, mainly in school, many of us were linked together, big buddies, and nothing could break us apart. We “little gangs” that stood together and never went against another. But things changed. I remember when trouble occurred in one of our classes, one of our “group” tattle-tailed on another. We were all disappointed and he was “disinherited” from our group. I have seen men reacting in the same way. They stick together like glue until trouble strikes. Then it becomes easy to “pass the buck” and blame anyone else when things are gloomy. We will deny knowing who that person is to us just to cover our own backs from getting smeared into the trouble or problem that occurred.

An example. We are a group of men working on the same project. Suddenly something goes awry and the project takes a turn to the worse. What do we do? We look for the weakest link and start the blaming game. Instead of sticking together and facing the problem together, we would rather blame someone. He or she can take the fall. This happened to me; not once or twice, but a few times in my life journey. Was it worth it? No! Look at our Saviour God, our Lord Jesus Christ. Peter denied Him three times. Let’s read a verse or two about this – “… Immediately a cock crowed. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken; ‘Before the cock crows, you will disown me three times.’ And he went outside and wept bitterly.” Here was one of Jesus’ most faithful followers. What happened? He denied he knew Jesus. Why?

Because of fear and consequences related to that relationship. He did not want to be associated with someone who was on His way to be crucified. Peter just disowned Him and allowed the blame to be passed on to Jesus. Instead of all the disciples having banded together and fight for Jesus, they disowned Him. Ok, we do also understand that He did not want to be “rescued” from this path He was on. It was all part of the plan of salvation to humankind. But looking at these verses, one can only wonder why the disciples denied that they knew Him, especially Peter. Are you denying before others that you are a born again Christian man? Are you denying that you truly know God and live a life where He is placed first? Are you part of the group who “disowns” Him when times arise and you do not want people to know that you are His follower? Isn’t it time to ask Him forgiveness for being a liar, a “cheat” who lives a “make belief” life as a Christian before others? Your heart has that answer for you. Amen.