Christ’s Patience With Peter Is a Lesson

Although Peter had denied his Lord, the love Jesus had for him never wavered. And, remembering his own weakness and failure, the apostle was to deal with the sheep and lambs as tenderly as Christ had dealt with him.ULe 189.5

Human beings are prone to deal harshly with those who do wrong. They cannot read the heart; they do not know its struggle and pain. They need to learn about the rebuke that is love, the warning that speaks hope.ULe 189.6

Throughout his ministry Peter faithfully watched over the flock and proved himself worthy of the responsibility the Lord had given him. He exalted Jesus as the Savior and brought his own life under the discipline of the Master Worker. He worked to educate the believers for active service and inspired many young men to give themselves to the work of the ministry. His influence as a teacher and leader increased. While he never lost his burden for the Jews, he gave his testimony in many countries.ULe 190.1

In the later years of his ministry, his letters strengthened the faith of those who were experiencing trial and affliction and those who were in danger of losing their hold on God. These letters bear the marks of one whose entire being had been transformed by grace and whose hope of eternal life was solid and unchanging.ULe 190.2

Even in severe trouble, the early Christians rejoiced in this hope of an inheritance in the new earth. “In this you greatly rejoice,” Peter wrote, “though now for a little, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”ULe 190.3

The apostle’s words have special significance for those who live when “the end of all things is at hand.” His words of courage are needed by every Christian who would keep the faith “steadfast to the end” (Hebrews 3:14).ULe 190.4

The apostle worked to teach the believers to keep the mind from wandering to forbidden themes or from using its energies on unimportant subjects. They must avoid reading, seeing, or hearing things that will suggest impure thoughts. The heart must be faithfully guarded, or evils from outside will awaken evils within, and the believer will wander in darkness. “Gird up ... your mind,” Peter wrote, “be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ, ... not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance.”ULe 190.5

“You were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”ULe 190.6

If silver and gold were enough to purchase salvation, how easily it could have been accomplished by Him who says, “The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine” (Haggai 2:8). But the transgressor could be redeemed only by the blood of the Son of God. And as the crowning blessing of salvation, “the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).ULe 190.7