One Step Beyond

"Most great people have attained their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure."— Napoleon Hill:

This quote brought to my mind the story of Peter and how he had denied the Lord. Yet he was the rock upon which the Lord built His church.

Jesus knew that Peter was about to fail him and he told him so in Matthew 26: 24, "Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice." Peter responded that he would never deny the Lord even if it meant the he had to die with him.

We do find Peter however, denying the Lord three times as found in Luke 22:55-62, Message Bible "In the middle of the courtyard some people had started a fire and were sitting around it, trying to keep warm. One of the serving maids sitting at the fire noticed him, then took a second look and said, "This man was with him!" He denied it, "Woman, I don't even know him." A short time later, someone else notice him and said, "You're one of them." But Peter denied it: "Man, I am not." About an hour later, someone else spoke up, really adamant: "He's got to have been with him! He's got 'Galilean' written all over him." Peter said, "Man I don't know what you're talking about." At that very moment, the last word hardly off his lips, a rooster crowed. Just then, the Master turned and looked at Peter. Peter remembered what the Master had said to him; "Before the rooster crows: you will deny me three times." He went out and cried and cried and cried."

Just as sure as Jesus was of Peter's failure, He also knew that Peter would repent of his failure, and go on to serve Him in a great way. God had a plan for Peter's life and had not forgotten the promise He had made Peter back in Matthew 16:18, "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

After the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, we find Him dining with Peter and the rest of the disciples in John 21:12-17. After they had eaten he turns to Peter and ask him if he loves him more than these and Peter replied yes and the Lord told him to feed his sheep. It didn't stop there but the Lord ask him three times. I believe that he ask Peter this three times because Peter had denied him three times. Just like Peter, there will be times in our lives that we will have to prove our love to God as well.

Then we see Peter after his greatest failure, turn around and obtain his greatest success in the Lord in Acts 2:14 "But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, ye men of Judea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:" And here is where Peter's ministry began. Read the rest of the chapter at your leisure.

This was the start of a great and mighty work that Peter went on to do for the Lord. That day God's promise to Peter was fullfilled and the church had it's first revival Acts 2:41 "Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls". I wonder what would have happened to Peter if he would have given up and thrown in the towel because of his failure. He could have ended up like Judas in Matthew 27:3-10: " Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood... And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself."

Peter chose to find a place of repentance and he made things right with the Lord. Then he got up, brushed himself off, picked up the pieces, and started over again. That is exactly what we must do. Never, under any circumstances, ever quit. Like Peter, God has a plan for our lives as well, and He wants to use us to do a work for Him. So when we feel that we have gone through what we believe to be our greatest failure, remember our greatest success is just around the corner. Hey people, Quitters never win and Winners never quit!