Jesus had been taken captive and Peter was following Him from a distance.  When his journey comes to a stop, he finds a charcoal fire burning in the middle of the court yard where Jesus is being questioned. People have taken a seat around the fire to keep warm, Peter is among them.

A young girl sees Peter in the light of the fire and thinks she has seen him with Jesus.  She points to Peter and says, “I think that man was with Jesus.”  Peter shakes his head, he says, “Miss, I don’t know him.” 

A little while later another person looks at Peter in the firelight and says, ‘You sure you are not one of them?’  Peter says, very uncomfortable now, “No, not me mister.”

Nothing happens for a time, Peter begins to relax.  About an hour passes and then a third person accuses Peter of being with Jesus.  “You must have been with him because you sound like a Galilean.”  Peter’s response again for a third time is to make it clear that he does not know this man they are talking about.

Have you ever been afraid or reluctant to own up to being a Christian? It's easy to wonder how Peter could deny Jesus and never consider that we may be denying him every day in the choices we make. At some point in our Christian walk, most of us have experienced our own personal “Peter moment” where we have denied Jesus.  We may not have breathed the words out loud, “I’m not a Christian”, but our actions or inactions spoke louder than words about our Christian character.

We, like Peter can deny Christ by following from a distance.  We can choose to hang out near the fire of the wrong crowd.  We might try to blend in silently with the world around us, giving in to peer pressure in an attempt to go unnoticed for who it is we really belong too.

Living life as a Christian in this world means that we will find ourselves in situations where we need to stand up and do what is right as a disciple of Jesus Christ.  If you find yourself falling short, do as Peter did.  We read later that the result of Peter's denial was overwhelming grief. He left the courtyard weeping bitterly. Through his brokenness and by way of Christ's forgiveness, Peter's relationship with Christ was fully restored and he finished strong for the Lord.