OPINION —
What happened to Simon Peter can only be explained by the life-changing power of Jesus Christ. The leader of the twelve disciples chosen by Jesus, Peter had a gift for putting his foot in his mouth. Once Jesus rejected Peter’s counsel so strongly that he said to him, “Get thee behind me, Satan. You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men” (Matthew 16:23).
While Jesus was shamefully abused amid the mock trial that resulted in his crucifixion, Peter became a coward and a liar. He angrily denied even knowing Jesus rather than admit he was one of his disciples. That such a man could recover from such shameful behavior and become a useful servant of God is astonishing. However, there is no doubt that it happened. Peter did not remain a wayward man. Christ forgave Peter and changed him from a liar into an apostle of Truth.
Along with another man unchained by Jesus, a man named Paul, Peter became an impressive leader of the early church. His New Testament letters flowed out of the mature years of a dynamic ministry during the explosive First Century growth of the Christian movement. Reading how the Lord redeemed Peter has inspired thousands of people to plead for mercy, crying “Lord, what you did for Peter, please do again for me! Take me, sorry as I am, and make me what you want me to be.”
What the resurrected Jesus did for Peter is not difficult to understand. Peter was in bondage to his past. Jesus forgave Peter’s sins and unchained him from his past. Then, like Paul, Peter never tired of glorifying Jesus as the One who could infuse sinners with the power to please God. And it was Peter whom God chose to show us that, through Jesus, we have everything we need to live like God wants us to live. Here’s how Peter explained it in his own words: “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness” (2 Peter 1:3).
Peter could not have changed himself; it was the unmerited grace of God that made him a new man. That’s why Christians call grace amazing. Since the resurrection of Jesus, for more than two millennia, the living Christ has been unchaining men and women like Peter from a despicable past. That is not just something I have read about; I have witnessed it happening. A remarkable example is a south Alabama farmer named Grady Watson Jr.
An Army veteran, Grady came home after the Great War and began farming. He attended church but did not have the peace with God that he longed for. Then, one day, it happened: in a field, on his tractor, he met the Master and got unchained. Here is his testimony:
“I was a lost human being, as rotten as a man could be. I was undone. I had wasted so many years. I was a lost sinner and I knew it. That day, in the field, driving my tractor up and down the rows, I began confessing to Jesus how rotten I was and, to my surprise, I began crying. You see, I had been in the war, on bloody battlefields, and had not cried in years. The tears blinded me and I could hardly see how to drive the tractor but I kept confessing all the rottenness inside me.
“I finally finished, and when I did, I lifted my hands up in surrender, and said, ‘Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, will you take me now just like I am? Jesus, I can’t clean myself up. Jesus, I need You. I want to give myself to You, all of me, just like I am. Will you take me, please, and clean me up?
“And then it looked like all of heaven opened up to me. Jesus came to me in a fullness I had never experienced before. He brought me peace beyond any peace I had ever known, a peace I had never dreamed possible. And to my amazement, He brought me a love beyond any love I had ever known, to let me know He loved me – just like I was.
“He didn’t ask me how much I cursed. He didn’t ask me how much more was wrong with me. He didn’t ask me anything; He just took me like I was, exactly like I was. The next thing I knew, I began to reach my hands up as high as I could and said, ‘Lord Jesus, will you take this cursing away from me? I don’t want to curse anymore. I want to get rid of this, Lord.’ And He did it! He set me free of it. He took it off my lips; He took it out of my heart for good. I have not uttered another word of profanity since that day.
“Then I took that old tractor and put it in gear and started down the row, praising the name of Jesus. The victory I needed God had given me – just like I was. I could not help but keep praising Him, over and over and over.” (Excerpted from Watson’s book, Any Old Bush Will Do)
Many people were loved into the Kingdom through the remarkable witness of my friend, Brother Grady, who is in heaven now. I have an idea he and Saint Peter have had a great time sharing their stories of God’s amazing power to unchain people from their past. After all, both of them found everything they needed in Jesus, and, praise God, so can we. If you need to be unchained, turn to Jesus.