One thing we all have in common is that we have all at some point in our lives disappointed God. These personal failures have left many followers of Jesus feeling like a second-class Christian. Maybe your failure in an area like those listed below has had this result in your life:
You had an abortion
You are divorced
You committed adultery
You abused someone
You got wrapped up in pornography
You struggled with alcoholism
You struggled with drug addiction
You have a criminal record
You got caught in a very big lie
And the list goes on and on. In the Bible, Peter was a Christian whose failures led him to a feeling of defeat. In fact, after the death and resurrection of Jesus we find Peter back at his trade, back to fishing. In his mind he was destined to a life of simple existence without accomplishing anything real for God. After all, he had several failures that weighed him down.
He sank in the sea because he took his eyes off Jesus!
He spouted off his mouth resulting in Jesus saying, “Get behind Me, Satan.”
He denied Jesus three times on the final night before Jesus’ crucifixion!
Talk about failure! And as a result, he was sure God was done with him. That’s why he was back at fishing. And even that wasn’t going well. In John 21, he had been fishing all night and caught nothing. A man from the distant shore called out and asked if they had caught anything. I’m not a fisherman but I imagine that fisherman don’t like to be asked that question when their net is empty. But then the man on the shore gave them a command. He told them to drop their net on the other side of the boat. That voice should have seemed very familiar to Peter. That command should have resonated in his heart and his spirit. They threw the net on the other side of the boat and brought in an amazing amount of fish. It was Jesus. He wasn’t yet done with Peter. And in spite of your failures, He is not yet done with you either.
You had an abortion
You are divorced
You committed adultery
You abused someone
You got wrapped up in pornography
You struggled with alcoholism
You struggled with drug addiction
You have a criminal record
You got caught in a very big lie
And the list goes on and on. In the Bible, Peter was a Christian whose failures led him to a feeling of defeat. In fact, after the death and resurrection of Jesus we find Peter back at his trade, back to fishing. In his mind he was destined to a life of simple existence without accomplishing anything real for God. After all, he had several failures that weighed him down.
He sank in the sea because he took his eyes off Jesus!
He spouted off his mouth resulting in Jesus saying, “Get behind Me, Satan.”
He denied Jesus three times on the final night before Jesus’ crucifixion!
Talk about failure! And as a result, he was sure God was done with him. That’s why he was back at fishing. And even that wasn’t going well. In John 21, he had been fishing all night and caught nothing. A man from the distant shore called out and asked if they had caught anything. I’m not a fisherman but I imagine that fisherman don’t like to be asked that question when their net is empty. But then the man on the shore gave them a command. He told them to drop their net on the other side of the boat. That voice should have seemed very familiar to Peter. That command should have resonated in his heart and his spirit. They threw the net on the other side of the boat and brought in an amazing amount of fish. It was Jesus. He wasn’t yet done with Peter. And in spite of your failures, He is not yet done with you either.
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