“Meanwhile, Peter followed Him at a distance…” (Mark 14:54 NLT)

It seems that every year, no matter what Bible reading plan or Lenten devotional I am burrowing my way through, just before Easter, this verse always grabs me by the collar and holds me hostage a bit.

We are so quick to accuse Peter of abandonment, but here we realize it wasn’t all at once. He abandoned his Savior by degrees. And unfortunately, often, so do we.

“Meanwhile, Peter followed Him at a distance.”

Why do we allow hard times, persecution and accusation push us away from Christ?

Why is our strongest human instinct self-preservation?

Truly, isn’t our safest course of action still found in proximity? Sure, man may kill our body but Christ will always keep our soul.

Jesus warned His disciples of this moment, the moment where distance seemed safer than intimacy.

“Then Jesus told them, “This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written: “ ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’” (Matthew‬ ‭26:31‬ ‭NIV‬)

What if we reacted differently than the disciples did during Holy Week? What if today, we decided that when hard times come, we will move closer? What if we decided to reinforce our relationship with Christ, rather than relinquish intimacy in in the hard light of affliction? What if we saw the heat and discomfort of trial as refining fire and allowed it to further purify our lives as we offer them to Christ?

“He will sit like a refiner of silver, burning away the dross. He will purify the Levites, refining them like gold and silver, so that they may once again offer acceptable sacrifices to the Lord.” (Malachi‬ ‭3:3‬ ‭NLT‬‬)

We can’t miss this; the Levites are the priests, the ones who came closest to God.

He allows hard things to refine us. He redeems all things and, somehow, in that heated process, purifies our hearts as we pull closer to Him.

For some reason, I’m reminded of Moses and the burning bush in the wilderness. The bush was not consumed. It was set on fire by the power and presence of God, but it wasn’t burnt up.

When trials come, when the fires of persecution and problems catch, if we’ll pull closer, we won’t be consumed. Refined, but not destroyed.

Lord, we want to pull close. Help us do that now, while it is easy, and again when it’s costly. We realize what You can reduce and produce in the fire and thus, we are willing to maintain intimate proximity to You in all circumstances. Sew our hearts to Yours in such a way that our flesh can’t flee when trials come. Amen.