Denial Upon Denial

More Precious than Silver, J.E. Tada

Peter's denial is a well known story...it serves as a vivid reminder of the ability of all of us to deny our Savior. 
Dr. Craig Barnes: I think Peter denies he is a disciple because it is the truth...Peter has tried hard to save Him from the cross, to talk Him our of it, even raising his sword in an act of heroism. But Jesus has turned His face toward the Cross...Peter simply cannot follow Him to the cross...This isn't Peter's moment of denial. It is a moment of confession. He is not a disciple. He never has been. What he has been following is not Jesus, but his expectation of Jesus.
The day we recognize the difference between our expectations of Jesus and the real Jesus is the day our true journey of discipleship.

I am not sure...It may be true that Peter did not follow Jesus without expecting Him to be a warrior and take down the opposition, as everyone expected the Messiah to do. But maybe it is more like the story of Aslan and Lucy...when Lucy say him as being larger. "Every year that you get bigger, so do I" he told her.
God seems larger to me than He did a year ago. More comforting. More loving. More committed. More strength. Honestly I could not fully describe how much and how big and how everything God is. 
We all deny Christ. At some point in our lives we deny Him. We may verbalize to someone in a panic of rejection that we do not know Him (as I often viewed Peter's rejection of Christ--a full action of panic, and one in panic does not thing clearly). We may deny Him with our actions...premarital sex, driving over the speed limit and flipping people off (all while having a Christian fish on the back of the car, or other symbols of Christiandom). We deny Him with our talk, our songs, our actions. Thankfully He remains ever so much more faithful to us as we do to Him. We must remind ourselves through prayer and Bible studies (and good, solid authors to read) in order to remain steadily faithful ...and remember NOT to deny Him through our actions. Without that intensity of commitment, we forget and are swayed by the evil ones to act in denial. Think of your human relationships. If you are not in contact with them, the relationship soon dies and fades. So much more so we must remain in communication with our Lord and Savior.