Get Up Like Peter
I've been talking about the women at the empty tomb this week, but today I want to take a little look at Peter, and how he responded to hearing what the women had to say. Luke writes this: "Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened." (Luke 24:12)
Eagerness
Three things happen here. First, Peter ran to the tomb. There is an eagerness there! He heard that maybe Jesus was alive, and he ran to see.
Question: are you eager to meet the risen Christ? Do you run to see Him and encounter Him?
Curiosity
Second, when Peter got there, he bent over and took a look at things. I think this is profound. Peter is not only eager, he is inquisitive. He bends over and checks out the evidence. He doesn't just shrug off the women's claims as nonsense.
Question: are you inquisitive about things related to Jesus? Are you 'bending over' to see what evidence there is of His resurrection? Are you seeking to understand and learn and grow in knowledge?
Wonder
Third, Peter walked away from the tomb and wondered to himself what had happened. His eagerness led him there, his inquisitiveness got him examining the evidence, and then he walked off and began pondering and thinking about it all.
I think a lot of the time we hear the Jesus story, and we kind of leave Him behind at church, or on the video we watched. Peter here keeps Jesus in his mind!
Question: is Jesus on your mind much? Do you wonder and think about Him during the day?
There's a line in a Charles Wesley hymn, which I recorded the other day, that says:
Of nothing think, or speak beside,
My Lord, my Love is Crucified.
Surely that was true of Peter?! All that was on his mind and heart was Jesus that weekend. As we see in the rest of the New Testament, Jesus was on Peter's mind always until he died.
So today: run to meet the risen Christ! Bend over to examine the claims about Him, and think about Him all the time.
He will meet you as you come; He will show Himself to you as you seek Him; and He will fill your heart with joy as you focus on Him. I know it.
Receiving the baptism of the Spirit requires complete consecration of your life to God and genuine faith in His power to transform you. Lay it all before Him today and ask Him to fill you completely.