Peter’s Foundation
Let's spend a few weeks looking at the ordinary people in the book of Acts who lived extraordinary lives, starting with Peter.
From Ordinary to Extraordinary: Peter's Story Begins
Jesus at one point in their time together asks the disciples who the people are saying He is. Then He says to them: "Who do you say I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven." (Matthew 16:15-17)
The foundation of Peter's life was his faith that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of the living God. He was blessed by Jesus for his faith - his simple belief that Jesus was who He claimed to be.
This is not as easy as it sounds, for a lot of people. Many think that Jesus was just some trickster, some misguided primitive man. They think the disciples were just gullible idiots. They think we are the enlightened ones now in our day!
CS Lewis calls this "chronological snobbery"! To think that because we are "industrialised" people, we are smarter than those who lived centuries before.
The Foundation of Faith That Changes Everything
No friends, we're just ordinary people, no different in our souls than those who lived even 2000 years ago. Peter was no fool. Later on, Peter writes beautiful and quite theological letters that show his intelligence. He watched Jesus closely to see if He was genuine. He ultimately figured that this Jesus was the real deal. This was his foundation.
I wonder if the Father in heaven has been revealing this to you, like Jesus said He did for Peter. I wonder if you've been hearing it, seeing it… and rejecting it? I wonder if you've been indifferent to it? I wonder if an extraordinary life is awaiting ordinary you… if you would begin with this foundation - this simple but real faith that Jesus is who He claims to be: the Son of the living God, the Messiah, the Saviour of all.
Faith is what it's about in the end. In fact, Nazarene preacher Kenneth Gibble writes this, in an article about Pontius Pilate who recognised something special in Jesus but didn't put his faith in him: "It's faith that saves us in the end. Faith that our choices are not just leaps into the dark but leaps into the everlasting arms. It is faith that teaches us we were destined to be more than victim, more than pawn, nothing less than free men and women."
You're destined for more. For an extraordinary life! Faith in Jesus must be your foundation, like it was for Peter.
Peter's fumbling start in the Gospels was not the end of his story - his simple faith in Jesus as Messiah laid the foundation for an extraordinary, Spirit-filled life. Ask God today whether you have built your life on that same foundation.