Faulty Premise, Flawed Result

Peter's conversation with Jesus in John 13:36–38 is both touching and convicting—for Peter and for us.

On one hand, Jesus takes time allowing Peter to interrupt Jesus' discourse on love to address Peter's out-of-context question.

But Jesus also points out, even though Peter cannot yet understand it, that Peter is operating under his own (very limited) strength, and that is not going to be enough.

Peter had a wrong premise. Not only did he not understand Jesus' plan, he was convinced he could do what was needed to make it happen. Peter said he was ready to die for Jesus, but in reality, on his own, Peter would deny Him.

It is easy for us to do the same as Peter. A "good" thing can become our main thing—it becomes a faulty premise upon which we make logical decisions that can take us out of God's perfect will for us.

Often, those wrong premises begin with "I."

Unbelief (or lack of trust in the Lord and His perfect will for us) is belief in something else, often ourselves. We can easily try to take God along with us as we logically follow a well-intentioned but faulty premise. In the process, we will miss the best the Lord has for us.

We can take heart in knowing Jesus will meet us as he did Peter, even if we are out of context.

Let our premise be Jesus, not Jesus plus something; just Jesus in all that we do. Then, we can be assured that we will have the best there is for us.

Perhaps we can all pray this week:

Lord, bring me where You want me to go. By Your Holy Spirit, and not on my own, allow me to follow you every step of the way. In the Holy Name of Jesus we pray. Amen.