Sarcasm and Roosters

The following is a daily devotional that posted yesterday on our church's website. I thought I would share it here, as well... with a little bit of a personal note.

Each month, I contribute a few brief devotions, which are based on Biblical text that my church provides as part of their 365 'Daily Walk' devotional journey. (If you'd like to check out their 'Daily Walk' devotions, click here.) I have loved contributing... these "assignments" have felt more like opportunities, and it has been such an aptly-timed joy and challenge in this season of my life.

One of the things I liked so much about college, was writing papers... I know, I'm sick :) But it was one of my favorite things to do. I enjoyed being given parameters to work within, while still being allowed freedom to express the main point however I wished to interpret it. There were several years of training I underwent, paid for by the state of Tennessee, that I am now using for the kingdom of God... and I think that's pretty awesome.

Yesterday's devotion was a difficult one to write. When I was reading over the Scripture verses that were 'assigned' to me, I took them to heart.... and it took me back to junior high. It got me remembering the way I used to be, and how difficult of a time that was in my life.

But during that difficult time, is when God claimed me as His own. I gave my heart to Him at age 14, and it was the pains and confusion of junior high that taught me how good He was, and how clear and pure and beautiful He could be in contrast to all I was going through.

As I was thinking of all this the other day, before I knew it, a devotion was completed. That's when the writing becomes easy... when it's based on what God has done. So here is my take on this popular Scripture passage. I wonder what it will make you remember? How did you used to be?

How has God redeemed you? To be able to ask and to answer this question, is why I write.

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When the Rooster Crows
(As published at http://www.brentwoodbaptist.com/ministries/learning/dailywalk on July 23, 2013)

“The Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had told him, ‘Before a rooster crows today, you will deny Me three times.’ And he went out and wept bitterly.” (Luke 22:61-62) 

When I was a teenager, I became a black-belt in the art of self-defense... and I’m not talking about karate. I never attended any classes, or kicked any boards in half, or did anything that required me to wear a particular uniform. My art of self-defense was much more destructive than those things.

My art of self-defense was sarcasm.

Sometime around junior high, I discovered that I had a way with words. It only took a few rough situations with kids at school or at church, for me to realize that I could use those words to get me out of tough spots. When I was backed against a wall, with nowhere else to turn in a conversation or a social interaction… I could whip out some acerbic wit, throw a few verbal punches, and make my escape successfully.

Always one second too late, I would realize that familiar feeling of loss, of embarrassment… of shame. That gut-wrenching feeling of wishing I could take back the words that just came out of my mouth. In those moments, I have known the shame of having denied Christ’s presence and life within me.

As Peter stood in the courtyard, warming himself by the fire after Jesus had been captured, his heart must have been a muddle of prayers and fears (Matthew 26:58, John 18:18). The man who He had begun to trust as the Messiah, had been taken from him by guards and soldiers. I can’t imagine the fear he must have felt, as he waited close-by to hear what would happen to the One he had grown to love most.

He is confronted, three times, by people who recognize him as one of Jesus’ followers. In a series of moments when he was trying to keep anonymous, he is singled out and asked a question whose answer could have determined his life or his death.

The people in the courtyard asked him if he was one of the followers of Jesus. He said no. They asked him again… he said he didn’t even know who Jesus was. They pressured him insistently once more, stating that he even spoke like Jesus… Peter cried out that he did not know him (Mark 14:71).

And the rooster crowed.

In Luke 22:61, it says that the Lord turned to look at Peter in that moment… and I can only imagine the agony that was felt. Peter remembered what Jesus had told him… and he went away and wept bitterly (v.62).

We all have known those moments, when the rooster has crowed in our own life. Sarcastic words are spoken. A sinful act is done. Consequences are set in motion, and our heart breaks a moment too late.

As a Christ-follower, there is only one thing we can do in those moments when the rooster crows… when we realize our sin, we must be broken from it as Peter was broken and wept bitterly (Matthew 26:75). Christ is faithful and loving, and He has sufficient grace and forgiveness for any (and every) sin we commit… but He asks for our repentance (2 Peter 3:9).

I have seen the fruit of repentance in my own life, after years of struggling with a sarcastic tongue. God has kept my heart tender towards Him in this area, ever since He first broke me of my sin over 15 years ago. Although there are moments when I still hear the rooster crow in my heart, it is to His glory that godly sorrow has kept me on a path of repentance and renewal in this area.

Peter denied Christ three times to the crowd in the courtyard, and I know that I have denied Christ many more times than that in my own life. But when Jesus looked at Peter, he didn’t see only Peter’s sin… he saw Peter, too. And He prompted Peter, by that one glance, to remember who God had called him to be.

He prompts our hearts to remember this, as well. He helps us to understand that He alone is faithful to forgive us… every single time.

Even in those moments when the rooster crows.