Have you ever?
Have you
ever had to take a completely different direction in life? Things were going
smoothly when all of the sudden you got fired, or had a serious illness or some
other life changing event?
Peter
convinced the other disciples that the thing to do when that happens is to just
go fishing! I’ve never been much of a fisherman but I have lost a job and been
confronted with life changing events. Most of us do what Peter and his friends
did. We run back to what we know, what
is comfortable.
We catch up
with the story in John 21. Understand, Peter and the rest of the disciples had
walked with Jesus for three years. They heard the parables, saw the miracles,
were even there to have all those things explained to them. Jesus told them
many times what He was about to go through, yet when the scene went down they
all scattered. They denied knowing Him.
After His
resurrection the disciples saw Him many times yet still we see Peter convincing
his friends to ‘go back to fishing’. Before Jesus, that was all they knew.
After all this, they still did not understand, Jesus’ teaching and death and
burial and resurrection had little impact on them. They were doing what we do,
running back to what we know.
Their results
were about like mine. After three years in ministry, something happened to test
my resolve to continue. I did attempt to go back to landscaping but like Peter and
friends, I ‘caught’ nothing.
Also like Peter,
right at that moment Jesus was standing on shore watching and tells them how to
quickly correct their error. Throw your nets on the other side of the boat, and
they caught more than they could haul in. Their efforts all night has been
fruitless.
Imagine the
disciples coming on shore and the fire was laid with fish already cooking. That
breakfast at Galilee was thanks to the ultimate provider for us all. May I add
a new name of God? The chef of heaven!
I have
fished a few times and I have cooked over an open fire many times but having
the chef of heaven lay out a breakfast for me at a time when I am starving
physically and spiritually was something I hadn’t experienced until I was in
the boat with Peter, so to speak, running back to what I knew how to do, rather
than what God wanted me to do.
Peter had
denied Christ three times in one night. I have far exceeded that and you have
too. But Jesus restored him three times, once for each time. He will do it for
you and I too. Jesus didn’t just forgive him. He challenged him to feed His
sheep. He pushed him to get busy doing what He had been telling him to do all
along, follow His example.
Die to self,
live for others, feed the needs, be ready at their most vulnerable point. His
implied promise was that as Peter and friends did as God commanded them, He
would bless their efforts. Check out Peter in Acts 3-4 and you will see the
change believing will make.
No longer
was Peter denying Christ. No longer was he encouraging others to go back to
fishing, or living as if the resurrection didn’t matter. He was preaching in
the synagogues and on the street corners to every Jew, Greek, Gentile or
Samaritan who would listen. He spoke with courage. He spoke with boldness. He
spoke with conviction. Gone were the fears of failure, rejection, reprisal.
Gone were fears of what others would think.
That change
only happens when we quit focusing on
ourselves and focus on Him. It requires God opening our hearts to be receptive
to Him. It means God opening our minds to see ourselves as the completely
incapable, hopelessly dead worms that we are.
When that
happens, and only when that happens can we see the feast laid before us, the
great catch that awaits us. God never called us to be comfortable, He calls us
to be dependent.
May He open
our eyes to see our need of Him.
Happy Easter
my friends. He is Alive! Jesus loves you and I do too.
Jeff Sutherland
FortMorganMinistries@gmail.com
FortMorganMinistries.blogspot.com
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