The way we are when disciples are unreliable (See Lk 22) Our ministry is our labour over men. So, Peter, a key disciple that Jesus had laboured over famously and very publicly denied ever knowing Jesus. He went into hiding in Jesus’ hour of need. He deserted Jesus - that is not a good thing Peter did. That hurts. Jesus had known in advance that Peter would make choices that would cumulatively lead to him denying Jesus. In response to what He knew ahead of time, Jesus did not adversely change towards Peter. Instead, our dear Lord prayed for Peter! He prayed for a disciple that was about to desert Him - that is the way Jesus is in us today! Upon rising from the dead, Jesus did not respond with His own denial of Peter because Peter was now friendly towards those who were enemies of Jesus. Jesus did not adopt the mindset that the friend of my enemies are my enemies, therefore Peter is now my enemy to be marked and avoided. The Lord went looking for Peter so that He could do more ministry with Peter. It is mind-boggling, the ways of our precious Lord. In response to the sustained love from Jesus, within 50 days of his denying and deserting the Lord, Peter publicly stood up and openly associated with Jesus whom he had previously deserted. Peter took a whole city by the gospel (see Acts 2). Peter had been trained by the labour of Jesus. That rich deposit of service and love never goes away. Peter could only stand to preach publicly and boldly within 50 days of denying Jesus because our dear Lord had not responded by deserting Peter who had deserted Him. Jesus did not use a the-friend-of-my-enemies-are-my-enemies mafia mindset to kill the emergence of greatness in Peter. The Lord Jesus co-laboured with Peter. How is this possible? Thanks be to God this is our heredity in Christ. it is fleshly thinking that prevents us from seeing that at that moment that Peter was denying the Lord, he was just 50 days away from boldly demonstrating the power that the labour of Jesus had in his life. True, at the point that Peter deserted Jesus, it seems pretty obvious that Peter was a time waster, a lost cause, a drain on Jesus' energy, and one that caused Him pain, but divine patience causes us to hold on knowing that just 50 days from that very point in time, as Jesus stays consistent towards Peter, many things will come together and Peter will be overwhelmed by Jesus' consistency in whom Peter will find the consistency to show forth the solid training that had been deposited in him by the Lord's labour over him. Your labour is not in vain in the Lord. Take heart, your fruit abounds in the Lord. ... to be continued