Sun 23 Oct

Peter boldy opens his first letter with the statement, “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ.” Such a statement gives us hope. Why? We tend to pass over such statements as of little importance in order to get to the teaching of the letter.

But consider where Peter has come from. He had denied he even knew Jesus, or that Jesus was one of his friends. He had missed the mark with who Jesus is on several occasions. When Jesus asks Peter to put down the nets one more time to catch fish, Peter thought it was a pointless exercise, but he had to humble himself and admit in front of his friends and Jesus that he had missed the mark as far as Jesus is concerned.

Such a bold statement gives us hope because we see that Peter is just like us. He blows it just like we do. He misses the point over who Jesus is, as we have done on several occasions. He denies Jesus, just as we do when the pressure gets to us. However, rather than giving up on Peter as we would have done, Jesus keeps on calling Peter to follow Him.

Peter places another comforting phrase in these verses. “Who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.” God knows who He was choosing when He chose Peter. God knew Peter’s flaws, foibles and sins. God knew Peter would fail Him at times, and yet God chose Peter. It brings us comfort when we are tempted to think that God chose the wrong person for the job, that God knew exactly who He was choosing when He chose Peter and when He chose you.