Keep It Simple Saint

Then the angel said to him, “Gird yourself and tie on your sandals”; and so he did. And he said to him, “Put on your garment and follow me.” (Acts 12:8 NKJV)

I wonder if I would have had the wits to understand a word the angel said if I were Peter.  Seriously think about this.  You are in the middle of a dead sleep when you feel someone strikes you on the side and you look up and there is a bright light and an angelic being standing there.  For most of us, this would have been so out of the ordinary that we might have taken more than a second to gather ourselves together enough to follow the instructions given by the angel.

But this was not most of us.  This was Peter.  This was the man who had been with Jesus personally during His earthly ministry.  He stood on the Mount of Transfiguration where he saw Jesus, Moses, and Elijah shining as bright as the sun.  He was the one who saw Jesus walking on water and actually stepped out of the boat to take a few steps on water himself.  He was there when Jesus brought the demoniac into his right mind.  He was there when Jesus raised the little girl and Lazarus from the dead.  And he was there on the day of Pentecost, preaching like he’d done it all his life.

So, what’s another bright shining light and angelic appearance to a man who has been walking in the miraculous for the last three years of his life?  And if Peter had not been conditioned to expect the unexpected, he might have done what most of us would have done.  We would have been so fixated on the messenger that we would have missed the simple message that ultimately was what saved Peter’s life – follow me.

Leave it to mankind to make complicated even the most simple of instructions.  We can certainly fixate on the majesty, miracles, and wonder of Jesus, and completely miss His message – follow Me.

Lord, today, I want to keep it simple.  If I am to follow You, then I need to not major in the minors by building up such a brilliant case of my own rights in a situation, but to simply follow You and lay down my life today however that looks.