Do you ever get frustrated with the up's and down's in your spiritual walk?
It seems as if at one moment we can be completely in tune with the heart of our Father. Our desires line up with His and we are sharing His love with others...
And then we go careening over the hill at amazing speed. We have NO desire to read His Word, and we are entirely content to follow our own thinking.
Thankfully, we are not alone in this struggle. One of the most famous followers of Christ struggled with this exact thing!
I was reading in Matthew 16 the other day when I came across a conversation between Jesus and Peter. Our Lord was asking his disciples about His reputation in the surrounding communities. He asked, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" (vs 13). The disciples answered, naming many other famous prophets and followers of God.
Jesus then asked a more pointed question to his disciples, "Who do you say I am?" (vs. 15)
Peter piped up answering, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God!!!!" (vs. 16)
The answer was pleasing to the Lord, and He responded with a blessing on Peter's life.....BUT
In the next section of this chapter, Jesus explains to his disciples that He would soon be arrested and suffer terrible affliction ending in death at the hands of the religious leaders. Peter was shocked and couldn't understand this plan!! He adamantly disagreed with the Lord, and before we know it, this blessed disciple is being severely rebuked by Jesus, "Get behind me, Satan!!" (vs. 23)
Wow!! What a turn of events! What a spiritual roller coaster!! Unfortunately this process can affect any of us as Christians as we progress on our spiritual journey. So what do we do? How do we react?
The answer (I believe) comes in considering Proverbs 24:16....
"For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again, but the wicked shall fall by calamity."
We WILL have triumphs, and we WILL fail.....the only unknown factor is how we will react to that spiritual roller coaster.
Peter fell, but rose again to continue to serve his Lord. Our responsibility as well is to press on and continue to grow in our love for Jesus Christ!