Chances: A 7-Day Devotional by Evan CraftSample

Have you ever done something you promised yourself you would never do? Peter, one of the closest disciples of Jesus, declared before the rest of the disciples that he would not deny Jesus. He was outraged at the thought of it. Peter even drew a sword to defend his Lord. But then the unthinkable happened. In a moment of desperation and despair, Peter does exactly what he said he would never do. His teacher, the messiah, has been arrested and stands before the Sanhedrin awaiting his fate and Peter denies him. Not once, not twice, but three times. Scripture says that when the rooster crowed, “Peter wept bitterly”.

This is a unique experience for Peter, but all of us have had moments where we realized we did the very thing we promised ourselves never to do. I’ll never drink again. I’ll never smoke again. I’ll never gamble, or visit a certain website. We’ve all fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). But there is hope.

Jesus, after being betrayed by his best friend, forgives him. He tells Peter to feed his sheep three times, once for every betrayal. Jesus showed Peter that He is the God of second chances. He won’t give up on you know matter how many mistakes you’ve made, no matter how deep the betrayal. God is in the redemption business.