Peter is a guy we can probably all relate to in the Bible. He has great days, and then he has pretty awful days, and scripture shows them to us. “He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter replied, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.’” (Matthew 16:15-18, ESV).
Wow! Jesus changed Simon’s name based on his revelation of Jesus. None of the other disciples had this happen. However, Peter had his name changed again. “From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things…. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, ‘Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.’ But he turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan!...’” (Matthew 16:21-23).
Have you ever felt like that? You’re going along, having a Simon day, and something happens in which you move into a Peter day with revelations that God is awesome, and then all of a sudden you get smacked with a Satan day.
In all of those days, though, you are loved by God. Your worst day does not make you any less accepted by God. Jesus didn’t stop loving Peter, did he? No. The same is true for you. Author Brennan Manning gives us a glimpse into this revolutionary love of God: “His love is never, never, never based on our performance, never conditioned by our moods—of elation or depression. The furious love of God knows no shadow of alteration or change. It is always reliable. And always tender.”
I read those words while traveling from Queens to Brooklyn on the F Train, and I started crying. The revolutionary thinking that God loves me as I am and not as I should be requires radical rethinking and profound emotional readjustment. Our religion never begins with what we do for God. It always starts with what God has done for us.
After pastoring an inner-city congregation in Detroit for thirty years, Pastor Tim served at Brooklyn Tabernacle in NYC for five years and pastored in Lafayette, Louisiana, for five years. He became Senior Pastor of Times Square Church in May of 2020.