So we know that Peter denied Christ three times. He also preached the first sermon after the Resurrection at Pentecost where 3000 gave their lives to Christ. It seems like such a huge change in such a short amount of time. A true testimony to the grace of God and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.
But there's another lesson here if you look at the story.
Mark 14:27-30
"You will all fall away," Jesus told them, "for it is written:
" 'I will strike the shepherd,
and the sheep will be scattered.'
But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee."
Peter declared, "Even if all fall away, I will not."
"I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "today—yes, tonight—before the rooster crows twice you yourself will disown me three times."
Here Jesus tells the disciples that when He is taken, they will scatter. He will be abandoned by those who follow Him.
However, Peter doesn't abandon Him at first. Peter follows behind to watch. He's in the Temple courtyard when he gets approached and recognized as a follower of Jesus. It's then that he denies Christ.
So the only reason he had the opportunity to deny Jesus is expressly because he choose to follow Him when others didn't. The others might be able to say that they "never denied Christ" but that's only because they'd already given up.
Those of us who choose to follow Jesus more closely, who take bigger risks and try to go the extra mile will pay the price of that devotion. We will tempted in ways that others are not. And our failures will be all the more grand because of it.
However, look at the positive side of it. He did have a heart to follow Jesus. He loved Jesus. Because of that, he was also in a place to preach that sermon and be used by God in a great way.
Being one who gives a deeper devotion to following Jesus means that we will have bigger opportunities to fail, but also that we will see God work in bigger ways.
Its a trade off that I'm sure Peter was happy to have made.
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