The Crow of Conviction

As Christians, we know the story of Peter denying Christ and oftentimes ask ourselves “Why would he do that?” Peter knew the living God personally and still denied knowing him when it was convenient for him.

There were several pastors that I listened to growing up who would question Peter. Peter– the same disciple who walked on water with Jesus (until he started to not anymore)– was always the disciple that we talked about. Not that the other disciples weren’t important, they absolutely are, but Peter’s belief and eventual denial of Christ was something that always stuck with me. 

After all, who would deny Christ when we know who he is? You and I. That’s who.

Am I denying Christ?

This is the question that I asked myself recently. Trust me, it wasn’t one that I came up with but rather was sprung on me in the corners of my mind. My immediate answer was that I would never deny Christ, but Peter came crawling back into my brain. That was when I took this question seriously.

In Luke 22:54-62, we see Peter go through the prophecy that Jesus had put on his life. When Jesus was arrested, he said  “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” 

There are several pieces of this chapter that blow my mind– one being that Jesus chose Peter to be his disciple EVEN THOUGH he knew this would happen. Would you choose your closest friend if you knew they would betray you in a time of need? Probably not. But Jesus knew Peter’s heart before he stepped into Peter’s life physically, and still chose him.

The rooster is meant to represent something to us– not just Peter’s denial in Luke 22. The crow of the rooster represents the representation or realization that we might need to analyze where we are being convicted.

Conviction is our wake-up call

The purpose of the rooster for Peter was to signal to him the prophecy that Jesus had stated was completed and to represent the incoming conviction Peter would feel.  Peter’s response to this was weeping bitterly– often when we receive the wake-up call from the Lord that we haven’t been doing what we are supposed to, we respond similarly. 

What are the things we are doing in response to God’s calling? I often time see believers have a firey passion for God, but as soon as the political field doesn’t go their way the “roosters” starts sounding. 

Perhaps it’s that we see ourselves being passionate about saving our money and doing well with what God has given us, but once the comparison steps in we find ourselves spending money on things we truly don’t need. The rooster is cawing and we are ignoring it instead of “weeping bitterly”. 

The crow, or what we can call conviction, is something we need to be paying close attention to in our lives, not ignoring. 

So how do we look out for the roosters in our lives? 

We need to be paying attention to our surroundings. We must refuse to be part of the group of Christians that adhere to the idea of our faith, but ultimately don’t follow the foundations of it.

1. Have people in your life that you trust will call you out

This one is the hardest one I feel to cultivate. If you are on your own in your faith journey, having someone “call you out” for not following God’s path for your life will be difficult. Instead, find someone in your church and run the struggles that you are experiencing past them. 

If you have multiple people saying “Hey, you should look into this,” or “Maybe this isn’t the best idea,” you need to take a step back and observe that part of your life very carefully.

2. Ask God to help you follow his will. 

James 1:5 says “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” This scripture directly tells us that if we need help, all we need to do is ask. God will give it to us without finding fault. He will not fault us for not knowing the right thing to do. He will give us that wisdom generously. 

3. Meditate and stay in the word.

The word of God permeates our hearts best when we are consistently in it. Find a Bible reading plan and stick to it. Stay consistent and God will use His word to speak to us and our hearts.

4. Don’t ignore the conviction you feel

Peter didn’t ignore the rooster when it called. He wept and was torn apart from the inside out about how he had betrayed Jesus. When we feel conviction about things and do not follow it, we are straight up ignoring that Jesus knew this would happen and still chose us. We are ignoring how we have betrayed our Savior.

None of us want to betray Jesus in the way that Peter did. The reality is that we do daily and we often don’t notice it. I encourage you to take some time to ask yourself, “Where I am walking away from Jesus in my life? Where do I lack trust in Him?”

You will be surprised with the answer.