The key to a successful daily walk is found in a complete and accurate understanding of our salvation. Perhaps one reason why we fail in our walk with Jesus at times is because we have failed to fully comprehend the work that was accomplished on the cross for our salvation. How can we expect to be successful if we do not fully understand what it is we are supposed to be doing? The answer is we can't. This is illustrated several times in Peter's life prior to his transformation. He thought he knew the Truth, but it was merely head knowledge. He had the truth, but the truth didn't have him. In his book All In: You're One Decision Away From a Totally Different Life, Mark Batterson says, "The distance between your head and your heart is only twelve inches, but it’s the difference between information and transformation." Truth is merely knowledge if it stays stuck in your head, but when it invades your heart, truth becomes power. Information may change your mind, but transformation changes your heart. That is the reason why we don't sing change my mind, O God—we sing change my heart, O God.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
1 Peter 1:3 – 5
As I read about the new Peter, the Peter after this last encounter with Jesus, I am struck by the contrast between the man who claimed to know the truth and the man who demonstrated the truth by the way he lived and acted. His actions spoke for themselves. Peter had finally allowed the truth to move from his head to his heart. He had now experienced the truth for himself on a profound and personal level.
If you are struggling in your walk with God, perhaps you are not grasping the full reality of what he has done for you. Like Peter, you know a lot about him, but you haven't fully experienced him. It is not enough to simply know facts about Jesus. You must know him personally. Ask God to help you make that 12-inch journey and take what is in your head and put it in your heart. It radically transformed Peter and he was never the same, and it will do the same for you.
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