What do you do when you don’t believe in yourself or are unsure? You wonder if you dare to change and if it is possible? If this is you, I invite you to get inspiration from a person was unsure and afraid like you once, but is now pretty famous in the Catholic church. But if you knew or read of him in his earlier days with Christ, you will soon figure out that he was very much like us, i.e unsure, hesitant, fearful and did not believe in his greatness. So you don’t have to be a confident person to transform your life.
If you are wondering who I am talking about, it is none other than St Peter, who Christ considered the Rock of the Church. There are two fundamental things you can learn from Peter’s life. The first thing is to learn to see ourselves through the lens of Christ. The second is that once we see through that lens , life changes dramatically for it paves way for the Holy Spirit to take charge. What follows is nothing short of breathtaking! Let’s see how that worked in the life of St Peter.
Who was St Peter?
Peter was a fisherman, minding his own business before he became a disciple of Christ. I guess he believed in Christ’s teachings and that’s what made him his disciple. But how did Peter see himself? He saw himself through the lens we see people-a fisherman. And how do we look at people like Peter in a modern, intelligent society? If we are honest, it would be a smelly, poor, uneducated person who has to work his butt off to bring food on the table. Or a person who has no aims or ambitions and stuck to his status quo.
Besides being insignificant, he was also a coward. He felt brave temporarily as long as Christ was with him. As long as he was a disciple of Christ, he knew Christ could rescue him if something happened. He trusted Jesus implicitly and knew who Jesus was, the son of the living God. But yet, by himself he had no guts to stand up and voice it. That’s why he denied knowing Jesus three times when Jesus probably needed him the most.
How would Peter behave if he was one of us in modern society?
If Peter were a fisherman today, he would listen to his practical voice. He would continue to do his fishing work, wash his nets, catch his fish and sell it in the market, earn his daily bread and live life as such till his body could permit him. Just like we do in the real world. We let our working life, our net worth, our perfect lives, our career paths, status, perfection define us.
Peter would have been in the lowest in the strata of society and would be the humble, poor bugger we all feed bad for, but conveniently forget within the blink of an eye. Similarly, when we look at ourselves through our eyes or the way which society measures us, or through our job roles only, we risk being the lowest version of ourselves. Is that something we want our lives to shape out or do we want more?
The consequences of following the world view
We get indignant and expect ourselves to be perfect
When Jesus told him, that he would deny him before the cock crows thrice, Peter was indignant. He never expected himself to do that because he truly loved Jesus and everything he stood for. Yet when Jesus was getting flogged by the high priests and when he was recognised as Jesus’s friends, he vehemently denied knowing him and behaved as though he did not want to have anything with him. Peter didn’t expect himself to be imperfect but a damn good friend. But when push came to shove, he bailed!
We let fear rule the roost
When we cannot accept our imperfection, we don’t know how to handle situations. Fear takes over and we behave like cowards. We do what Peter did and hurt, betray or deny the people we love.
When do we do that? We do it only when we are in the grip of fear. Peter knew that he had hurt his friend, Our Lord and Master, yet he did. He was afraid of going against the bigwigs of society. Most of us do, so I don’t blame him. How often do we stand up against injustices or fight the good fight? We have great intentions like Peter, but when push comes to shove, we fail to act.
Read my post -How does fear take control over you to understand the dynamics of fear
Guilt and remorse take over, but we cannot take action
I am pretty sure that Peter was filled with guilt and was hurting for the Lord. Yet he could not take action. His fear of standing up was bigger and paralysed him. Why do we feel guilt when we succumb to fear and do not follow our call to action? If we use Peter as an example, let us understand why he felt guilt? It is the same reason which is that Jesus was probably the only person who believed in him. He saw Peter as something more than what he could see for himself.
‘And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build My church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. ‘
Mathew 16.18
What does that tell you -How can you transform your life?
See yourself from a different lens ( a sacred lens)
The first thing we need to do to transform our life is that we must not see ourself through the view of the world. In the view of the world, we may be insignificant like Peter, unimportant, with inadequate religious or educational background, or less than by society’s standards. But if we see what Christ sees in us, we will be able to move mountains.
Christ sees us differently and has a different plan for us. Peter sees himself as a fisherman. We see him as a fisherman. But Christ sees him a rock on which the foundation of the earth is built. So the first lesson we must learn from Peter is to learn to see ourselves with God’s eyes. If we do so, we will see the beauty in ourselves which no one including ourselves can see.
Give yourself permission to transform your life-aka accept the blessing of the Holy Spirit
The second thing that I like about Peter’s transformation is that this same scared guy who thought poorly of himself, when blessed/anointed by the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, transformed himself to the man we know as St Peter. He was then not afraid to stand up for Jesus but also spread the news to the whole world not fearing the consequence that lay for doing so. People were being persecuted for not following the authorities and talking about following Christ. But this same scared Peter transformed and was able to talk and lead the church and become its foundations.
What is the blessing of the Holy Spirit? Can it help transform your life?
It is God in the form of the Spirit. The feeling cannot be described and is intangible, but is the power to transform your life. It is like a gentle invitation to Christ’s banquet.
When you are blessed with the Holy Spirit and work towards your calling, despite finding naysayers, modern-day persecutors, nothing will stop you because the Holy Spirit has taken charge. Once you see yourself through the eyes of Christ and are blessed by the Holy Spirit, the ship has left the dock, we wave goodbye to the fisherman and get ready for the arrival of the rock that built the foundation of the church.
Which lens will you choose? Will you transform your life?
Do you want to see yourself through the eyes of society, or are you willing to see your self through the eyes of Christ? Will you take the next step and transform your life? Will, you cast away your doubts and fears into the ocean and swim with the tide instead of against it? This Pentecost are you willing to enjoy the blessings of the Holy Spirit and make necessary changes from being a fisherman to the foundation of the church?
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