Judas and Peter

I posted this (and more) over on my stroke recovery blog, Stroke Of Grace, today, but wanted to share it here as well.

 

I've been doing some pondering on Peter and Judas. Both denied Christ. Both were eventually remorseful. One was reinstated and became the human man upon whom Christ would establish his church, the other committed suicide and was told it would be better if he had never been born. What was the difference? What of forgiveness? Shouldn't the impartial love of Jesus have extended the same grace toward both men?

I think the difference is, while they were both remorseful, feeling the weight of guilt and the anguish of denying Christ, only one was repentant and believed/proclaimed that Jesus is who He says He is (God in flesh, with the power to forgive/erase sin and redeem lives). Like the thief nailed to the cross on Jesus' right side, it was in this act of believing, of trusting that Jesus was more than just a "good man" (or "innocent man" as Judas confessed too late) but that He is God, that made all the difference!

But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God. - Acts 17:24