Simon- Peter: Gods Chosen Leader

Peter has always been my favorite bible character for lots of reasons but it wasn't till I read a specific passage that I knew yall would probably need to know him too.

So it was after Jesus died and actually had risen again. Peter had seen the empty tomb and now even with the Risen Lord making appearances he was stressed out. Let's be honest the last weeks had been the hardest of his life. He had eaten the last supper with Jesus himself. Had him predict his betrayal. Actually betrayed Jesus. Repented from that. Watched as one of his close friends and mentor get killed in a horrific way. Mourned his death. Been shocked with his resurrection and now under the stress of having the whole world hold their breath as Jesus was making appearances. Peter was stressed out.

So you know what he did? He went fishing. In much the same way I would go to the gym or enjoy a good day of hard work. Peter wanted to hide himself in the habitus act of physical exertion and work. The really cool part?

God met him there.

It was from this story that really drew me into an in depth study on Peter. So let's look at him.

First off Peter was a leader.

He and his older brother Andrew ran a fishing business with their partners James and John. Which was a hard way of life that required quite a bit of luck. Some would say he outshone his older brother Andrew, and this is true - Andrew was only mentioned once without the pretext of Simon - Peter's brother.

He had the type A personality. He wasn't afraid to speak for the group (Luke 5:8) Its shown that he was the leader of the disciples, In Matthew 10:2-4, Mark 3:16-19, Luke 6:14-16, and Acts 1:13. Basically he was Jesus’s right hand man, his partner so to say. Peter, as a natural leader, did what he did best. Lead.

But the cool thing is that even with Peters type A and charismatic personality he found the greatest leader ever. He never let his pride get in the way of whole heartedly throwing his energy into serving Jesus. He had found the world's best leader and would follow him anywhere. (John 13:37, John 13:9, Luke 22:33)

I know from experience what this is like. My dad and I have had the privilege of becoming like this especially during hunting season. We kind of sync up, so to say. To the point where we can just look at each other and know what the other means (Luke 22:61) Its the perfect symmetry of me, a natural leader, submitting to my dad, who leads even better. And I just love that about Jesus and Peter.

Second, Peter was a fly by the seat of his pants kinda dude.

He tended to jump into things for sure, and he did it with a reckless abandon too. (John 13:9, Luke 5:8) He was excited and always ready to lead anyone into any situation often without thinking through the consequences. This was Peter's fault, and Jesus knew it.

He was like a flag in a hurricane. Constantly switching the direction of his mad hot passion every thirty seconds. The cool part? Jesus called him to become one of his disciples when he was still full of this fault. In fact he kinda used it because when He called Peter and Andrew they left their nets immediately and followed him. Shortly after this Jesus renamed Peter (John 1:42) You know what he named him? The Rock.

He called out what he knew Peter would become, And well he was still a flag in the wind at that moment Jesus knew that one day he would be the rock of the early church.

With the help of watching Jesus Peter became just that. His growth game was mad strong and by the end of his life when he wrote 1 and 2 peter you see how he has changed.

Originally he threw himself into following Jesus but he died in the steady love and dedication to him that was so passionate it consumes him.

There is so much more that you could learn from and study about Peter. After all, his betrayal of Jesus is written about in all four gospels, but I think it's important for us to realize that God uses what we are naturally gifted at. He created us that way after all. But he also changes our faults radically until what we are left with is a steady love for him and a passion for his work.