MAY WE NEVER SHRINK BACK TO DESTRUCTION

THE apostles must have been shocked when their beloved Master, Jesus, told them that they would all scatter and abandon him. How could such a think be -in this, his hour of greatest need? Peter insisted: "Even if all the others are stumbled, yet I will not be." In truth, Peter was a brave bold man. But when Jesus was betrayed and arrested, the apostles-including Peter-scattered. Later, while Jesus was being interrogated in the house of the High Pries Caiaphas, Peter lingered anxiously in the courtyard. As the cold night wore on, Peter likely came to fear that Jesus and anyone associated with him might be executed. When some bystanders recognized Peter as one of Jesus' close associates, panic seized him. Three times he disavowed his connection with Jesus. Peter denied even knowing him! -Mark 14:27-31, 66-72.

That was a low point in Peter's life, a moment he no doubt regretted for the rest of his days. But did Peter's course that night make him a coward? Did it make him one of "the sort," that the apostle Paul later described when he wrote: "Now we are not the sort that shrink back to destruction?" (Hebrews 10:39) Most of us would likely agree that Paul's words do not apply to Peter. Why? Because Peter's fear was temporary, a brief lapse in a life marked by outstanding courage and faith. Similarly, many of us have moments in our past that we recall to some degree of shame, moments when fear caught us by surprise and kept us from standing as boldly for the truth as we would have liked. (Compare Romans 7:21-23) We can be assured that such momentary lapses do not make us the sort that shrink back from destruction. Still, we need to be determined never to become of that sort. Why? And how can we avoid becoming such a person?

Next time: What It Means to Shrink Back to Destruction

Watchtower, 1999