This phrase shows up in the Bible only two times and both times they are found in the Gospel of John. In Hebrew, it is pecham, and represents both the heat of God’s wrath against sin and refining fire that sanctifies. In Greek, it is anthrekia, and serves as the setting for Peter”s three-time denial of Jesus in John 18:18 and his subsequent restoration by Jesus in John 21:9. It blows my mind: John 18 records that in fear (but fulfilling Jesus’ words), Peter denies knowing Jesus three times. And in John 21, when Jesus asks Peter three times, “Do you love Me?” He is offering Peter the opportunity to affirm his love for Jesus. Failure is not final and divine forgiveness overcomes all human weakness. Jesus Christ often meets us in the very place of our failures to offer us redemption and restoration.