Denying Our Denial

Most of us would describe ourselves as very loyal and devoted people.  We will always be faithful and true to the end, unwavering, steadfast and firm in our allegiances to those we love and value greatly in our lives.   Although we tend to cling to this positive perception of ourselves, what do our actions truly reveal about our character and our real motives?  Are we as dedicated and trustworthy as we believe ourselves to be or could we be more honorable, responsible and reliable in our close relationships?  What about our loyalty to the most important relationship we will ever have with our Savior?  Evaluating our inner heart’s intentions with the truths of God’s Word is the best place to initiate our internal inspection to see if we have some changes to make.  It would be beneficial for each of us to closely examine ourselves to determine whether or not we are in denial about our sin of denial.  I must admit that God has been working on transforming me big time in this area over the past few years.  I’ve been learning to identify and allow God to change the areas in my life where I’ve been denying Him on a regular basis.  As you read this post, I pray that you will also see where you may be denying Christ and how He may want to transform you as well.

As I reflect on some examples of real life people in the Bible who seemed to be devoted to God but then openly denied and disobeyed Him, the primary people that come to mind were Jesus’ very own disciples.  They were His closest friends who claimed to love Him and whom Jesus loved greatly. They spent three years of their lives following Him and witnessing His love and compassion for those He came to save.  We all know the account of Judas Iscariot and how He betrayed the Savior for thirty pieces of silver and later was so overcome by the guilt of his sin that he committed suicide.  We see how grieved Jesus was by just knowing that Judas’ would betray Him in John 13:21, “When Jesus had said these things, He was troubled in spirit, and testified and said, Most assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me.” How much pain it must also cause Jesus when those who claim to love and follow Him continually choose to betray Him over and over again.

Peter was another one of Jesus’ disciples. He identified himself as a devoted follower of Christ who loved Him greatly which makes his denial seem to be more surprising than any other.  In Matthew 26:31-35 Jesus is explaining to His disciples how all of them would be made to stumble and deny him that very evening.  For a short time later they would all fall asleep during the time when Jesus had asked them to fervently pray for Him.  Out of all the disciples, Peter vehemently and publicly proclaimed his loyalty to Christ by declaring in verse 33, “Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble.”  Jesus then tells Peter in verse 34, “Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.”  In his response that Christ would even imply doubt concerning his love and faithfulness to his Savior, Peter adamantly announces his unfailing love and allegiance in verse 35 saying, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!”…   We then see that Christ’s prediction is beginning to be fulfilled when Peter was confronted by a little girl in verse 69 who says, “You also were with Jesus of Galilee.”  Peter said in verse 70, “I do not know what you are saying.”  In verse 71 another girl saw him and said to those who were there, “This fellow also was with Jesus of Nazareth.”  In verse 72 Peter denied the accusation saying, “I do not know the Man!”  After awhile there were people who came to Peter who said to him in verse 73, “Surely you also are one of them, because your speech betrays you.”  Finally in verse 74 we see that Peter even curses and swears and shouts, “I do not know the Man!”  How could Peter deny the One who he had claimed to love so dearly that he would even die with Him rather than betray Him?  How could someone like Peter be completely committed to serving and following His Savior yet so easily become unfaithful and disloyal?

How do these biblical accounts of betrayal by Judas, Peter and the other disciples relate to us in this day and age?  We would never sell out Christ today and betray Him for money like Judas did, or would we?  We personally would never fathom the thought of denying Jesus like Peter did, or do we?  After all, we are always faithful and pure in all of our motives and we would never dream of placing any allegiance above our devotion to our Savior. All of the disciples had seen Christ work amazing miracles right before their eyes and witnessed every day the deep love and commitment that Christ had for mankind.  We have all personally seen the power of God accomplish mighty things in our own difficult seemingly impossible situations.  Just as Judas, Peter and the other disciples seemed to forget so easily about God’s faithfulness and goodness to them, we too often fail to remember ALL that He’s done for us and choose to disregard the indescribable unfailing love and devotion Christ has for us.  We ‘claim’ to love Christ and be sold out for Him, but we continue choosing to deny Him regularly . Maybe we’ve never had a gun pointed at our head by someone threatening to kill us if we don’t blatantly declare that we’re denouncing our faith in Christ.  Maybe we’ve never uttered the words “I do not know the man” like Peter did three times in a row or traded our allegiance to Christ for money like Judas did.   We may have never even publicly denied Christ in front of unbelievers; however we all definitely demonstrate our denial and rejection of Christ in numerous other ways every single day. 

We often show our ‘denial’ of Christ by how we spend our time, our money and our talents.   In reality, none of these belong to us in the first place.  This life we are living is really God’s life.  The time we waste is actually God’s time.  The money we spend is really God’s money.  The talents and abilities we believe we possess have been given to us on loan by God to accomplish His eternal purposes.  Our life, our time, our money, and our talents are all God’s and have been given to us for the sole purpose of bringing honor and glory to Him and Him alone, not ourselves.  In any area of our lives that we are not totally devoted and sold out for Christ and His purposes, then we are certainly denying Him.  There are countless areas in which we choose to betray Christ on a daily basis.  Here are just a few in case you are still not convinced that you yourself ever deny Him:

1)      We do not regularly read and study God’s Word.  If we do read it, there are times when we do it out of duty and not because of our utter devotion and hungering and thirsting after Biblical truths.

2)      We do not pray like we ought to, seeking after God’s will and direction for our lives.  Sometimes our prayers are empty, meaningless and sweet communion with our Father is broken because we choose to grip tightly to our sin instead of confessing it.

3)      We waste our time choosing to be entertained by media for hours a day instead of advancing the cause of Christ that will count for eternity.

4)      We fail to speak up when the Holy Spirit prompts us to talk about our faith in Christ with others.

5)      We often refuse to give God ALL of the honor and glory for a situation and allow ourselves to receive the praise for what God has really done.

6)      We take the credit for the talents and abilities that God has given for us to serve Him and others with.

7)      We choose to waste our finances on frivolous meaningless expenditures that bring us temporary pleasure rather than investing in the kingdom of heaven.

8)      We allow our minds to be consumed with worry, fear and anxiety because we do not trust in our Sovereign Creator.

9)      We attempt to accomplish things on our own rather than depending on the strength of our Father.

10)  We chase after earthly pursuits that will never bring us true satisfaction instead of resting in the Only One who can ever meet our needs.

When we see all of the ways that God’s own children blatantly choose to deny and replace Him with their own selfish desires, I cannot even imagine the extreme pain and agony it causes our heavenly Father.  I do not dare claim to fathom the devastation that our Savior feels when His creation chooses to continually deny Him.  On a human level however, I can definitely identify with the deep pain of being betrayed by those I dearly love and have sacrificed for.   I have personally experienced the anguish that accompanies blatant rejection by a loved one.  I have felt that gut wrenching pain and agony that reaches to the deepest innermost part of my soul as a result of being traded in for and exchanged for worldly passing ‘pleasures’ that only bring destruction to the lives of those who blindly chase after them.  I understand the feeling that results from being tossed aside by someone I thought loved and appreciated me and someone I adored and would even give my life for.  Maybe you too can empathize with the despair that comes from someone denying you?  Maybe you’ve endured utter ruin in some of your relationships because someone you believed valued you unexpectedly denied you and your love. 

 Although we may have endured the devastating pain of a loved one’s betrayal, none of us have ever come close to suffering and giving up what Jesus has sacrificed for all of us.  How much more excruciating and intense the pain of betrayal that Christ must endure on a regular basis by His very own children?  We are only partakers of Christ’s suffering as we travel life’s road.  God knows the pain we bear and promises in Hebrews 13:5, “I will never leave you or forsake you.”   He will always be close beside us to comfort us through our suffering, and He knows and understands our pain of rejection very well.  When we have experienced firsthand the heartache of betrayal in our own lives, it should cause us to deeply empathize with our Savior’s pain when we forsake Him.  The pain we have felt personally should stop us dead in our tracks from the desire to ever deny Christ again.

So should we just all give up because we’re doomed to the fact that we will continually be led away by our selfishness and pride and deny our Lord?  Absolutely not!  The cure for betrayal and denying Christ is for us to obey what Christ calls the “greatest” commandment of all.   Jesus reveals this greatest commandment for us to follow in Matthew 22: 37 “Love the Lord your God with ALL your heart, with ALL your soul and with ALL your mind.”  Anything short of totally loving God with ALL of our being as Christ commands is to deny Him as Peter, Judas and the other disciples did.  As we see in Peter’s life, God thankfully does not toss us aside and render us useless for His service because we have betrayed Him.  In Scripture we witnessed Peter humble himself before God after he sinned against Him.  Peter saw clearly his wicked sin of betrayal after denying Christ three times, and wept bitterly in remorse over his sin.  God forgave Peter and used him greatly just a short time later when Peter preached to the multitudes and 3,000 souls were saved.   We must also humble ourselves and admit that we’ve traded in our loyalties to Christ for our own selfish sinful motives.  Keeping our heart pure through continual confession of sin will allow our commitment to Christ to reign foremost in our life.  Our loving and forgiving God will also use us to accomplish His purposes even after we have denied Him, when we come to Him and confess our sin of betrayal.  How amazing and awesome our God is to forgive us of so much and use us greatly in spite of our past sin! 

As you reflect on your own thoughts, motives, speech and actions, are you in denial of the fact that you deny Christ at times?  I’m amazed at myself and how I’m so easily swayed into a bad attitude, selfish motives, unkind speech and disobedient actions on a daily basis.   At times I’m unthankful, unyielding and unwilling to always ‘see’ the true amazing power of God at work all around me, every single day.  I’m so much like the Peter in that I ‘claim’ to love and adore my God yet I allow myself to be pulled away from my complete allegiance to Him and desire to exalt my own will and way above God’s ultimate plan for me.  If I have so much work to do in these areas of betraying Christ, maybe you can identify with me as you’re reading this post.  If so, I pray that you will begin to humbly come before God and confess the areas in which you may have betrayed Him.  It’s time for us all to lay down our pride and stop denying our denial of the One who loves us more than anything and gave His life to prove it.