Dele saw her smile at him across the room. He should have looked away but he didn’t. In a split second, he realised that she looked pretty in a homely way, had a beautiful figure and wore her braids elegantly.
He didn’t know her name but became pleasurably aware of her. However he wasn’t going to do anything about it because he was happily married, content and loved his wife dearly. He had been married for ten years and had never slept with another woman since then.
He left the restaurant and went back to work. As he lay beside his wife later that night, thoughts of her attacked and penetrated his peace. That smile, those braids, the pretty face, the slim figure! He indulged himself and let the thoughts roll. He slept off much later with a happy smile on his face.
Two weeks later, he sat at an empty table at the same restaurant enjoying his lunch. A shadow fell across his meal. “Do you mind if I join you?” she asked in a most sonorous voice. He couldn’t say no. He enjoyed their chat and wished he could prolong the lunch hour.
A month later, they had dinner together. If she had been a hunter, clingy, or demanding in any way he would have found it easy to resist the attraction. But she was nice, selfless and pleasant and he often wondered if she was innocent.
During the next 3 months he spent all of his free time with her. It was just like a dream. He loved his wife but he enjoyed her company. An expensive indulgence; but he allowed himself to enjoy it.
Then one day she confronted him. He was responsible for her pregnancy. It was a mistake. She wanted an abortion. Could he please give her some money so she could do it at a professional hospital? He remembered he had always preached that - abortion is a sin against God. What was he going to do??
At that moment, his thoughts were with his wife. He loved her and didn’t want anything to come between them ever. How would she feel? The joyful memories of the past 3 months instantly faded away. He held his head in his hands.
How he wished that three months ago, he had looked away.
Matt 5:28-29 – “But I say to you, whoever looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you…”
Peter was in a state of shock. The one he embraced as Messiah, was being treated like a common criminal. His all powerful Saviour and Friend was being humbled by mere mortals and He was not even lifting a finger to save himself.
Peter was confused and sat before the fire trying to sieve through the avalanche of thoughts and doubts coursing through his mind. Was Jesus really who He said He was? Was this the end of a 3 year journey of discovering great new possibilities? What next? What if…?
Suddenly the threat of being joined with Jesus as a co-accused became very real. A young maid accused him of being an accomplice to Jesus. Without thinking Peter blurted out, “Me? I don’t know that man. Never seen him before! May I be d…..d if I have as much as spoken to him even once. …”
Peter denied Jesus not once, but 3 times within the space of an evening.
And then the cock crowed and he remembered…. how earlier in the evening, he had pledged his unwavering eternal allegiance to Jesus. He had promised to die rather than deny his dear buddy.
As the feelings of shame spread through his body, Jesus turned and looked at him. He knew!! Now Peter would gladly have died. He had denied his friend at His greatest hour of need. His gut wrenching pain increased and he wept bitterly.
Within the next 24hours Jesus was dead without an opportunity for Peter to apologise and seek forgiveness. It is easy to imagine Peter going home that day and spending the night asking God for Mercy.
Such a great sin but God saw a truly repentant heart and God forgave him.
How do I know?
Hear the words spoken to Mary in Mark 16: 6-7, after Jesus rose from the dead,
“Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. He is risen! ….But go tell His disciples - AND PETER – that He is going before you into Galilee…
Why single out Peter? Probably because Peter needed to know that in spite of what he had done. He was still loved. And so God sent him a word to let him know he was forgiven.
God will always honour true repentance!! It makes sense to take advantage of God's grace and mercy
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THE AIREGINAN DREAM by
moi
There are a few things God cannot resist. One of them is True Repentance. Ps 51:17 says, " The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken spirit and a contrite heart - these oh God you will not despise.
God hates sin. But He softens and forgives where He sees true repentance. Let's look at some examples
King Ahab
In 1 Kings chapter 21, King Ahab stumbled on the vineyard of Citizen Naboth. Just one look and he wanted it … badly. Naboth said no; the vineyard had been in the family for generations and he was going to pass it on to his son after him. Thoughts of the vineyard he couldn’t have, made Ahab sick; very sick.
His wife Jezebel would have none of that insubordination to the king’s wishes. So she hired some assasins and got Citizen Naboth killed pronto! The news got to King Ahab who immediately recovered from his illness and wasted no time in taking over the vineyard – the fulfillment of his dreams.
God was angry! He sent Elijah to Ahab with a message – he would face calamity and would die!
When Ahab heard the judgment, he tore his clothes, fasted and mourned. Hear what God said in response…
I Kings 21: 29, “See how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the calamity in his days….
Next …
King David
In 2 Samuel 11- David looked where he shouldn’t look;… at a beautiful married woman taking a bath. The obvious followed – Adultery and then the woman got pregnant. David’s response was to get her husband positioned in the war front. The poor man was killed before he got wise about their unholy secret. The woman mourned her husband for a few months before she moved in with King David.
To me the whole set up looks unforgivable!! Or what do you think? But then…
When confronted with his sin David said, I Sam 12: 13 – “I have sinned against the Lord…”
God looked into his heart and sent a message to him, “The Lord also has put away your sin.. you shall not die…However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child who is borne to you shall surely die.”
It’s clear from the scriptures that God will forgive the unforgivable when there is true repentance.
What then is TRUE REPENTANCE?
It is not feeling bad because you’ve been caught.
It is not a guilty conscience that lingers but for a moment.
It is not saying sorry just to save face
It is not regret today… and going back to the same old issue tomorrow
Rather…
It is making a u-turn and deciding in your heart that it will never happen again…
It is knowing that God hates what you have done and because you love God and don’t want to annoy Him, you will not allow it happen again…
It is knowing that only God can help you live holy and trusting Him to do just that.
Once God sees true repentance He will forgive and you can know peace again.
Do you need forgiveness and peace. It makes sense to accept what God has offered... on His terms
Don’t want this entry to be too long. So I will leave the story of Peter’s repentance to the next blog entry.
Every day is a miracle. We do not often see this because we have gone through so many days and so tend not to pay attention to the miracle of: breathing, sleeping and waking, eating without chocking, going to the toilet freely, and returning home safely after each day. But God is actively working on our behalf. Psalm 91: 11-12 'For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stoneYesterday evening, God brought the fact of His divine protection, home to me again. My husband came home about 7p.m. in the evening and sat down. I greeted him casually, and why not? He had just dropped me at home three hours earlier before returning to church. With a pensive tone he said - I experienced something today that I have never experienced in my whole life. That got my attention... What happened? I asked. He told us the storyHe was driving from our church within the Mainland hotel complex and had a Pastor friend - Pastor Otunde, beside him. The Pastor's children were sitting behind. He drove through oyingbo towards Adekunle to drop Pst Otunde at home. At the second main intersection, notorious for being blocked by danfo drivers, they saw people running towards their direction, including the danfo drivers who abandonned their buses. Their first thought was armed robbers, and so Pastor Otunde opened the door and gave a characteristic order that you hear in cases like that - Run!!!However, in that split second where he had placed one foot on the ground, my husband saw a trailer facing the one way traffic and bearing down on him with an obvious problem of brake failure. The road at that point sloped downwards and the trailer was clearly gathering speed. He took a decision and swerved to the left. Pastor Otunde was thrown out of the car and as he hit the ground he was rolled to the right. The trailed passed between the car and Pastor Otunde, missing them both by a hair's breadth before speeding by and chasing other pedestrians and drivers off the road. A stunned Pastor Otunde got up and the first question he asked my husband was - What just happened now? As i lay on the ground i saw the tires of the trailer roll just beside my face!Apart from a few bruises he was okay. He kept saying, Thank you Lord for this miracle. Not even my glasses were broken.I woke up early this morning and kept thinking of what could have happened if God had not intervened. All I could do was sing songs of praises. It could have been a different story. Join me to say.... halleluyah!!Make God continue to look out for us, In Jesus Name. Amen.Have a blessed week
