“Wept Bitterly”
How long, O Lord, will we do what we do not want to do? How long, O Lord, will we not do what we want to do? How long, O Lord, will we weep bitterly over our failures that are motivated by our misguided drive for self-preservation? How long, O Lord, will we fail to align ourselves with you in a lifestyle of grace-filled obedience and self-emptying sacrifice?
Sometimes our hearts break over the kind of heart that our actions show we still have; sometimes we are shocked at how far we still have to go.
Help us, O Lord, to face up to where we are and to trust your grace to lead us to where we need to be.
Amen.
“Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. A servant-girl came to him and said, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.” But he denied it before all of them, saying, “I do not know what you are talking about.” When he went out to the porch, another servant-girl saw him, and she said to the bystanders, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.” Again he denied it with an oath, “I do not know the man.” After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “Certainly you are also one of them, for your accent betrays you.” Then he began to curse, and he swore an oath, “I do not know the man!” At that moment the cock crowed. Then Peter remembered what Jesus had said: “Before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly.” (Matthew 26:69-75)
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