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Peter said to him, “Even though they all fall away, I will not.” And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” (Mark 14:29–30 ESV)
Either Peter didn’t know himself very well, or he was speaking with bluster or saying what he thought Jesus wanted to hear. It doesn’t really matter in the end since Jesus knew Peter’s heart better than any. And it’s not just Peter. Jesus knows what lies in all of our hearts even more intimately than we do.
This was the first part of Peter’s sin against Jesus; the second part was to commit the acts of denial. Yet, like so many stories where God is involved, it does not end there. Jesus not only forgave Peter, but brought him back into the fold of His companionship. By his tears and his deeds we catch a small glimpse of what became of Peter’s heart after his denial.
Martin Luther writes, “When I admonish you to confession I am admonishing you to be a Christian.” The apostle John wrote in one of his letters that “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Make it a habit to confess your sins to God, and be sure to confess to those you have wronged when it is appropriate. Confession is the first step in mending a broken relationship, between ourselves and God and between ourselves and others.
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True confession is not just an exchange of information; it also involves entering into the pain of the person we have hurt and entering into God’s pain over sin.
—John Ortberg
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