Strengthen Your Brothers

““Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.””
‭‭Luke‬ ‭22‬:‭31‬-‭32‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Jesus was talking to His disciple Peter in this verse. This is just before He told Peter that he, Peter, would deny Him before the day was done. This is the story we often hear. Peter denies Christ as He was being put before the High Priest for “trial.” What we often overlook, however, is that all Christ’s disciples abandoned Him that night, or at least, like John and Peter, stood far enough away so as to not be seen as associated with Jesus. (Although John was at Golgotha at the crucifixion.)

Jesus knew this was about to happen. He knew that His disciples would feel great shame and remorse for their failure to stand by the one they’ve come to love so much. Jesus also knew, that even though Peter would deny Him, Peter was to be the rock that would hold them together after the crucifixion. Obviously these words, “strengthen your brothers,” was remembered because they became part of Luke’s gospel. God knew they would fail, but He also knew they could be restored! He used one of their own to help strengthen them onto that restoration.

We too are called to strengthen our brothers and sisters. Many Christians will at times feel defeated. Many will feel as though they have failed, and therefore be tempted to just give up. But look at what these once weak disciples went on to do as they looked to each other for strength. They wrote many of the books of the New Testament. They went on to evangelize much of their known world. They became the foundation of today’s Church!

We need each other. We have not been called to live a Christlike life on our own. Of course we look to God and His Word to guide us, but we also need the fellowship of other Christians to continually strengthen us. We need each other!