Saturday Read: The Failure of the Flesh

Peter made bold declarations about never abandoning Jesus, even if everyone else did. "Even if all fall away, I will not" (Mark 14:29). Hours later, he denied knowing Jesus three times, punctuating his final denial with curses and oaths. His confidence in his own loyalty was absolute; his actual performance was abysmal. Yet Jesus had already predicted this failure and planned beyond it: "When you have turned back, strengthen your brothers" (Luke 22:32). The failure wasn't the end - it was curriculum.

Paul wrestled with this pattern too: "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do" (Romans 7:15). This isn't the testimony of a new believer struggling with sanctification - it's the confession of Christianity's greatest missionary recognizing that the flesh fails even when the spirit is willing. He concludes not with self-improvement strategies but with desperate relief: "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Romans 7:24-25).

This matters enormously for New Year's resolutions and fresh starts. We tend to approach them with Peter's confidence - this time will be different, this year I'll finally have enough willpower, this attempt will succeed where the last dozen failed. We're setting ourselves up for the same crash Peter experienced, the same frustration Paul described.

The Pharisees built entire religious systems on the premise that human effort could achieve righteousness. They fasted twice a week, tithed precisely, maintained ritual purity, and studied Torah exhaustively. Yet Jesus told his followers, "Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:20). The standard wasn't less effort - it was different source. Not human achievement but divine transformation.

This doesn't mean we abandon discipline or stop trying to grow. Paul told the Philippians to "work out your salvation with fear and trembling" (Philippians 2:12). But notice the very next verse: "for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose" (Philippians 2:13). We work because he's working, not to make him work. Our effort is response to his initiative, not substitute for his power.

So when you stumble this year - and you will - you have two options. You can respond like Peter pre-denial, doubling down on self-confidence and trying harder. Or you can respond like Peter post-denial, accepting your weakness as the very place where Christ's strength is perfected. Your flesh will fail. That's not pessimism; it's realism. The question is whether that failure will drive you to despair or to dependence.