Daily Office Readings for Saturday of the 2nd Week of Advent 2020: Year 1
AM Psalms 30 and 32; PM Psalms 42 and 43;
Isaiah 8:1 to 15; 2nd Thessalonians 3:6 to 18; Luke 22:31 to 38:
“But I have prayed for you that your own faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned back, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:32)
It seems that our Lord Jesus already knows that Peter will fall away, and he does. But it seems that Jesus also knows that Peter will come to himself, and return to the Lord, and Peter does that too.
To this point the apostles had been believing primarily on the faith of Jesus. But Jesus prays that they, and we, will come into our own faith. Jesus tells Peter about Peter’s denial of him three times before the rooster crows. I have heard that rooster crow. I hear that rooster crow every time I do something that is inconsistent with the teachings of our Lord Jesus. I hear the rooster and look into the eyes of a disappointed, yet loving and forgiving Jesus.
It is my sincere intention to “come to myself.” I am tired of what that rooster’s crow means to me. I want to be in a place where I can hear the crow and smile because I will know it no longer applies to my denial of the teachings of Jesus. How about you? Have you heard the crow of the rooster? When you hear it, do you ponder about how you might have done or said something that you would not want our Lord Jesus to witness?
Come into your own faith. Our Lord Jesus is still praying that we come into our own faith. We will fail from time to time to be who we are created to be. But it’s not over. We also have the responsibility when we turn back to assist our brothers and sisters with their struggle with the rooster’s crow. Let’s let that rooster remind us of what we are taught by Lord Jesus, and like Peter, turn our lives around so that the rooster’s crow will be the sound of happiness because we have moved on.
Let us hear what the Spirit is saying to, and through, the saints of God, and then ponder anew what the Almighty can do. John
onewhoponders 