PETER WENT FISHING

When I talk to people about serving God, one of the saddest responses I hear is, “God doesn’t want me. Not after what I’ve done.” They assume God is just like a lot of people they know. He writes us off. He holds grudges. We’ll never meet His standards. Our mistakes are many, our failures are well known, and our reputation is shot.

Don’t you think Peter must have felt this way? Here’s a guy Jesus personally chose and spent a lot of time with. It had to mean something when Jesus called him the Rock -- what guy wouldn’t like being given that name?

But after he did exactly what Jesus told him he would do -- denying Him at the moment of crisis -- Peter retreated to his old life and figured he was off the list. Jesus had made it a point to tell him he’d fail. Why would He do that? Peter probably thought Jesus was saying, “You’re not going to make it after all. Watch how you screw up in a few hours.”

Peter went fishing, the only other life he knew. That’s it for me. My time came, and I struck out. Out there on the boat that early morning, he reflected on the shipwreck of all his dreams. Jesus had qualified him, and that was a miracle. Peter had disqualified himself, and that was a tragedy.

Then he looked up to see a figure on the shore. Against all odds, it was Jesus, waving at him, telling him there was still work to do, and what was he doing out on that boat? I still choose you. 

-- Kyle Idleman in “The End of Me: Where Real Life in the Upside-Down Ways of Jesus Begins” 

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