'IT'

Simon Peter is usually the one disciple that I seem to most be able to relate to. There is just something about his failures that cause us to usually think about our own selves.

There was a particular story concerning Peter that I’m sure most of us have read or heard someone speak of. Just before Christ’s crucifixion, Peter told the Lord that he would never deny Him. He would even go so far as to give his own life for the Master.

But to make a long story short, the scripture proves that Peter denied the Lord on three separate occasions and then he ran away.

Jesus was then taken, tried, and crucified.

Can you imagine the guilt and the shame that Simon Peter had to endure? The thoughts that consumed him of not only the memory of what he said to Jesus, but how that he had forfeited the opportunity to share his love for Jesus with others.

(Forest Hill, MD)

After the crucifixion - just three days later, Peter heard that Jesus had risen from the dead.  I can only imagine what Peter’s mind was like at this point. He has risen and I am now truly on the run. Where can I hide from Him?

PETER’S HOPES and DREAMS CAME TO A SCREECHING HALT!

Just think, Peter was the man who was going to be the rock on which the church was built.

But now – now – that is over. I blew it.  I sacrificed that chance when I messed up.

This brings me to the book of John 21:3:
With all this stuff going through the mind of Peter – WHAT WAS HE DOING?

‘Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing.’

Think back to Luke 5: Was Peter not supposed to be a fisher of men?
Could it be that Peter was so beaten up in his mind that he had given up?

I read a statement not long ago that said: A person without a future will ALWAYS return to his or her past.
(Whatever that ‘IT’ is – ‘IT’ will always hold you back from your dream!)

Inner Harbor
(Baltimore, MD)

Those dreams – those ambitions – those things they were going to do – they are now burned and become ashes because of a mistake. This is where Peter and the others found themselves…Going back to what was comfortable. 

The old habit – the old life – doing what they know. Whatever ‘IT’ was...for them, it was fishing.

And in the end, they caught nothing … that is, until Jesus arrived.

Holding on to the ‘IT’ in your life = nothing.

No matter your failures – No matter your mistakes – No matter your circumstances: Nothing can separate you from the love of Christ. So, leave ‘IT’ behind and pursue the destiny He created you for.