by: Dr. Allen Domelle
Matthew 26:75
“And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly.”
Peter had many great intentions to do right, but he had the wrong pivotal influences which resulted in his denial of the church, his faith, and God. You have certainly heard about the incident in Peter’s life when he denied Christ three times, but like any incident, it should become a teaching moment to everyone who reads this story. If Peter had kept his pivotal influences right, he would have never denied Christ.
You make choices every day based off your pivotal influences. A pivotal influence is one that determines the direction of life decisions. It is vitally important to guard your pivotal influences because they ultimately determine what you become as a Christian. You may be right with God today, but if your pivotal influences are wrong, you won’t be right with Him in the future. The four pivotal influences that determined Peter’s denial are the same influences that will decide what you become as a Christian in the future.
The first pivotal influence is distance. Peter followed afar off instead of following closely. I know it is easy to criticize Peter because we were not there, but you cannot deny the fact that his distance contributed to his denial. Had Peter stayed close to the Saviour, the rest of the story would be different. Distance determines agreement. Amos 3:3 asks, “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” If your distance is right, your fellowship will be right. Don’t be the type of Christian who is uninvolved. Get involved! The more you do for Christ, the closer you will draw to the Saviour and the closer He will come to you.
The second pivotal influence is atmosphere. Peter found himself in an atmosphere of people who enjoyed watching wrong. Atmosphere determines action. You can’t be in the wrong atmosphere continuously and continue to do the right thing. You may think that atmosphere doesn’t matter, but it does. Atmosphere always influences your senses. If you want to keep your senses holy, you must keep yourself in a holy atmosphere. Be careful not to desensitize your senses by being in the wrong atmosphere.
The third pivotal influence is associations. Peter was standing with the false witnesses, and that was why he didn’t have the courage to stand for right. Associations dictate positions. If you want to be positionally right, make sure that your associations are right. You may presently be standing right with the wrong associations, but they will influence you to be wrong in the future. Solomon learned this lesson the hard way by having the wrong associations in his life, and they turned his heart from God. You cannot have wrong associations and stay right.
The fourth pivotal influence is stimulate. What is it that gets you excited? Peter stood at the heathen’s fire instead of being close to the Saviour. Stimulate decides choice. If you want to make the right choices, you had better get your excitement from the right places. You cannot receive your excitement from the world and not be worldly. Get your excitement from the things of God, and you will want to serve Him.
If you keep these four pivotal influences right, you will stay right with God.