Simon Peter Character Analysis

Essay Prompt: If you could be any character in the bible who would you be and why?

When reading and studying the Bible we realize that there are many characters with good traits and some with traits that aren’t so favorable. Throughout life, children of God undergo various situations, some in which we prevail, but in others we fail. The story of Simon Peter should serve as a guide to how we shouldn’t let our failures in life define us. As humans should learn from our failures and turn them into lessons.

Simon Peter was a fisherman, but also one of Jesus’ first followers and served as a close friend to him. He had quite a few strengths, but also had endured several failings in his life. Simon had been brought to Jesus by his brother Andrew and when they officially met, Jesus renamed him Peter, which means “rock”. When Jesus called Peter to follow him, he immediately left everything behind him. He followed Jesus for the next three years and had been the first to confess Jesus as “the Christ, the Son of the living God”. There were many instances in the Bible where Peter revealed himself to act suddenly, without

regard for his consequences. We see an example of this when he left the boat to walk on water towards Jesus, but when he took his eyes off of Jesus he began to sink. However through all of Peter’s ups and downs, Jesus continued to be his loving Lord and faithful guide.
Another example of mistakes in the Bible is when Adam and Eve were given a choice in the Garden of Eden and unfortunately, they chose to disobey God. After the fall, God set in motion a plan to free mankind through the loving sacrifice of his son, Jesus, and all we have to do is choose to believe in Him and we will be saved. Once we are saved, we have to continue to make the choice of obeying God and following in His ways.
If I were to be any character in the Bible I would want to be Peter because there are many lessons that humans should obtain from his experience.

Because God loves us, He created us to make decisions. He made us in His image and likeness and He created us with the freedom to choose between right and wrong. When we make the wrong decisions, we make mistakes. However, He also wants us to learn from the various mistakes that we make. We are free to either follow after God's ways, or rebel against the truths of His Word. The key to abundant life in Jesus is to understand when we make a mistake. God has given us the free will to make certain choices and then to ask Him for forgiveness for our sins which can be found in 1 John 1:9. Because He forgives us we are also taught to forgive each other. May we never forget that God’s faithfulness to us shall set us

free.