The GOAT

And there arose a dispute among them as to which one of them was the greatest….

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

But he said to Him, “Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death!”

And He said, “I say to you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know Me.”

Luke 22:24, 31-34

Everybody wants to be the GOAT, the greatest of all time, and the disciples were not immune to this phenomenon.  And, they were surprised by who it was.

At the last supper the disciples squabbled about who was the greatest. Jesus listened and said that it was not who man thought was the greatest who would lead them, but who God selected.

Peter was always shooting off his mouth. He was overly confident and had what we call good self-esteem. Neither of these are bad characteristics for evangelists, but they can get in the way when trying to minister to people. Jesus did not reject Peter, but He let him know that as much faith as he had, it would not be enough to overcome the trial that was coming.

Peter denied Jesus three times (Luke 22:54-62) but Jesus did not deny Peter rather He called Him again. We see this in Luke 16:7 when the angel at Jesus’ empty tomb told Mary and Mary Magdalene to “… go tell His disciples and Peter, He is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see Him….”

What does this tell us about being a Christian? It tells us that even when we fail that God still loves us and that we are still called to minister to others for Him. We may be temporarily sidelined, but with God we are not out of the game.

If you think you have somehow failed the test for being a Christian, think again. God loves you and Jesus loves you and they have work for you to do.

Get busy.