Ponderings About Peter

          Yesterday in Sunday School we discussed the two instances in which Christ called Peter to His ministry:  "And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men.  And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him" (Luke 5:10-11).  "So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs...He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep" (John 21:15-17).

          There is an important question tied to these two interactions between Simon Peter and Jesus Christ.  Why did Peter need to be asked a second time to follow the Savior?  Did he somehow slip off the path and need to be called back?

         To answer this question, let's take a scriptural detour to the Book of Mormon.  In the allegory of the vineyard, God explains "And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard said unto the servant: Let us go to and hew down the trees of the vineyard and cast them into the fire, that they shall not cumber the ground of my vineyard, for I have done all. What could I have done more for my vineyard?  But, behold, the servant said unto the Lord of the vineyard: Spare it a little longer.  And the Lord said: Yea, I will spare it a little longer, for it grieveth me that I should lose the trees of my vineyard" (Jacob 5:49-51).  Was it ever God's intention to cut down His vineyard?  No, it wasn't.  God knew all along how things would play out.  He had preserved the root of the mother tree so that it would bring life to the re-grafted branches.  In that sense, the corrupted fruit of the vineyard was never a true setback.  It was a natural progression of things that needed to take place for the harvest to happen at the end of the season.

          How does any of this apply to Peter?  It's natural to think that Peter's return to fishing represented a setback of sorts.  However, the Spirit tells me otherwise.  Peter's misunderstanding of his role following the Savior's death was a setback in the same way that the fall of Adam was an impediment.  Peter's reacceptance of apostolic responsibility was not a return to how he used to be, but rather a step forward, beyond the commitment he made with Jesus the first time.  Peter was not guilty of any great or malignant sin.  In fact, I don't think he was guilty of sin at all.  Rather, he had progressed to a point that required him to be instructed more perfectly.  The lesson Christ taught him at the sea of Tiberius was a natural extension of his progression as an Apostle and disciple.

          Alma 42:17 describes how certain setbacks are required in order to achieve true progress.  "Now, how could a man repent except he should sin? How could he sin if there was no law? How could there be a law save there was a punishment?"  The scripture seems to imply that the ability to repent is so important that it necessitated the creation of the ability to sin, the establishment of a law, and the institution of a punishment.  While individual sins are never necessary, without the ability to sin, which is mankind's ultimate setback, we would not have the ability to progress.  Without an Apostasy, how could there have been a Restoration?  A Resurrection without a Fall?  A Garden Tomb without a Gethsemane and Calvary?  A testimony without doubt?  Similarly, without mistakes and temporary regressions in spiritual prowess, we could not become like God.  Those mistakes that we make in God's service are really not mistakes, but rather building blocks that God is using to construct us.

          It is not mistakes or lack of knowledge that God condemns, it is rebellion.  Although Peter required more training to reach his full potential, his return to fishing was not rebellion against God.  It was a misunderstanding of what was next on his path to follow the Savior.  A heart that is knitted to God's is God's, and nothing will pluck it out of His hand.  God loved us, so He sent His Son, through which we find life eternal.  If we, by the grace of God, are perfect in Christ, we can in nowise deny the power of God to save us.  "Nevertheless, the Lord God showeth us our weakness that we may know that it is by his grace, and his great condescensions unto the children of men, that we have power to do these things."

          Sometimes God chastises us for our sins and rebellion.  However, I also believe that there are also times when God offers words of correction that aren't intended to be a rebuke.  He desires us to serve better because of them, but not to feel like our previous efforts have not been good enough.  He is always pleased with the man of four talents who invests what he has and produces four more.  The fact that He gives him another talent of knowledge and instruction is not to be interpreted as divine displeasure.  Rather, it is a loving call to ascend to new heights.

          May we all follow Peter's example and take full advantage of the grace Jesus offers us by accepting His instructions as an affirmation of His approval, love, and confidence.

Lessons About Prosperity From the Life of Job

          I had a friend once who said that those in prosperous circumstances, those that grew up in a safe, comfortable home environment, have a unique ability to help people in emotionally shattering situations because they haven't been broken down and therefore can see things clearly.  Prosperity is something that we don't really know much about.  Most commonly, we say that it leads to pride, which leads people to fall.  Those of us who are prosperous have difficulty coping with our own prosperity.  We seem naturally prone either to take for granted what we have or feel irreconcilably guilty for our blessings, as if the simple fact that we are prosperous and others are not is at least partially our fault.  Some are driven to "give back," as if prosperity was some kind of bargaining chip that fate was using to convince them to be more charitable.

          If that perspective seems overly cynical, understand that paired with the opinion of an insufficient general comprehension of prosperity is the realization that ease is paradoxically one of the most difficult things in life to handle righteously and objectively.  And, to stack paradox upon paradox, one of the best places to look for a better understanding of prosperity is the life of Job, the man best known for trials and tribulations.

          You see, for most of Job's life, all he knew was prosperity.  "His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels...and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east" (Job 1:3).  In fact, he was protected from anything that could possibly harm him, a fact that the devil made abundantly clear:  "Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land" (Job 1:10).

          I don't know how many other people besides myself have felt that protecting "hedge" that seems to keep away most major catastrophes.  Possibly not very many; it's hard to know what people around us have been through.  Maybe for some people the hedge wards off most kinds of disasters, but one or two get let through for that person's benefit. 

          It's natural to believe, just as the devil did, that inexperience with traumatic events would lead to a lessened ability to cope with them.  That is why he said that Job would curse God if his riches were taken away.  After all, doesn't experience make us tougher, better able to face challenges that we have already seen before?  Yet even though Job had never experienced anything remotely similar to what he was then called to endure, he responded admirably. 

          The first lesson that I take from this is that if our hearts are right with God, we can respond to anything well.  The second is that while there is a certain amount of difficulty associated with life, we don't need to experience every difficult thing we could possibly face in order to become perfect.  A third is that the fact that other people have been through situations that seem more difficult than ours does not make them better or worse than us.  I believe that some trials in life come because of good desires that we had in the pre-existence.  And, for some people, ease and prosperity are a result of similar feelings.  Why might this be?

          Pretend for a moment that someone that you love dearly is preparing to experience something extremely difficult.  You knew that there was a way that you could help them, but it would require extensive suffering on your part.  Would you do it?  I believe that some people would.  What if helping them meant that you needed to be in a position of power?  I'll leave the reader to connect the dots.

          God designed our lives specifically for each one of us.  He loves us, and is ever willing to bless us with the righteous desires of our hearts.  We vastly underestimate how much effort He invests to bring those aspirations to pass.  But one day we will know.  And I anticipate that it will make us very, very happy.