15 When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” 16 Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” 17 The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.” John 21:15-17
I am seated in my office desk and there is this one thought that is really disturbing me. If God Loves us, and He truly does, He knows that there are some of us who will love him and others won’t; yet He still loves us unconditionally. I am reminded of this scripture that says “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” 1 John 3:1. I love the way the Amplified Bible puts it across… it says “SEE WHAT [an incredible] quality of love the Father has given (shown, bestowed on) us, that we should [be permitted to] be named and called and counted the children of God! And so we are! I am still in awe of why God would choose to love a disobedient, unfaithful and sinful person like me. Mention of any form of sin and tell me if you and I are not guilty of. It is for this sole reason of Love that He (Jesus) agreed to leave his throne in heaven, come and take a human form just like you and me, identify with us and die on the cross paying the penalty of death that you and I ought to have paid.
Last month, I wrote this devotion that has been popping on my mind each and every day. Will the cock crow was the title of the devotion. [If you missed, click here to read] and every time at the end of the day when I sit down and evaluate my day, I am reminded of this. Will I wait till the cock crows for me to action on something that I have not taken an action on? It may be spiritually related or even in terms of my work – and this has been a great challenge to me. Jesus was speaking to Peter after He had had the last super with the disciples. he turns to Peter and warns him that the devil will sift him but Christ had prayed for him. Peter with his ego, he told Jesus that he wouldn’t deny him… but later we see how it went. He denied him 3 times as Jesus had told him.
In the scripture above, you realize that Jesus is speaking to Peter again after they had finished having breakfast with him at the shore of the Sea of Galilee. This is after Jesus had died and resurrected but Peter hadn’t seen Jesus yet. At this point in time, remember that after denying Jesus three times, he might have thought that Jesus would have no trust in him again and thus, he decided to go back to career that Jesus called him from – Fishing. Apparently, this is the thought line that many of us have. The minute we fall into sin, we think that God is so annoyed with us and He might not take us back and thus, instead of coming back to God and repenting, we delve ourselves deeper into sin. But this is not so; Jesus died so that we could be redeemed from our sins and his blood that was shed on the cross was for our forgiveness of sins. John reminds us that if only we REPENT our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us (1 John 1:9-10). If the prodigal son was accepted back, you and I can be accepted back too as we are all prodigals in the kingdom of God.
In real sense and putting this in a layman's language, we can easily conclude that Peter had backslid when he went back fishing and he had his 6 friends alongside him. This is the time that Jesus comes and reveals himself to them. We further know that Peter had backslid by the fact that he was naked and when eh realized that it was Jesus, he dashed to cover himself (John 21:7). Him removing his clothes does not only signify his physical nakedness but also his spiritual nakedness too. You need to discover that once you have fallen back, you do not see any shame of whatever you do; you are not conscious of yourself; simply because the spirit of God departs from you and you are left alone. And this is the state at which Peter was. The bible says it clearly that the flesh and the Spirit are always in conflict to control you (Galatians 5:17) and one cannot be where the other is. If you walk in the flesh, the spirit departs and if you walk in the Spirit, the flesh is suppressed.
Secondly, you will realize that he influenced others to go back fishing with him. With him, he had 6 of the 12 disciples. Thomas, Nathaniel, the two sons of Zebedee and two others not mentioned had gone back fishing with Peter. You need to know that you are an icon of influence wherever you are and there are many people that you influence. The question that you and I need to ask ourselves: – Is the influence that I give others positive or negative? For someone like Peter in this case and scenario, it was negative influence. One thing and I bet Peter knew this is that he knew that he had leadership qualities in him and thus, when he suggested the others that they go back fishing, they agreed with him simply because he was an icon of leadership. Same to you and me. Jesus said that “you are the salt of the earth; … you are the light of the world, a city set on a hill; Let your light so shine before men that they may see your moral excellence and your praiseworthy, noble, and good deeds and recognize and honor and praise and glorify your Father Who is in heaven.” Matthew 5:13-16
You need to realize that in whatever you do, someone is watching you and listening to what you say. In any case, they will do the same simply because they saw you do it – and you will be their reference when they are asked why they did so. Listening to Pastor Oscar Muriu of Nairobi Chapel, he said, and I quote “The higher you rise in leadership, the more mess you make when you fall” This is clearly evident with Peter in this context. The minute we fall, it doesn’t matter how high we had risen in authority or leadership, the people we hurt down the line are many more than we have influenced. You and I have a great calling and a leader leads by influence and not just by knowledge. Jesus called us to be fishers of men (Matthew 4:19). We are called to be world changers - but once we neglect our calling and go back, we fail in fulfilling our mandate. Imagine, Peter influenced half of the disciples of Jesus to leave the calling that they had for three and half years and go back to the fishing business that they were in earlier on simply because Christ had died.
This is what the devil does to us. He comes and speaks to us and we compromise and go back to our old life of sin and bondage and eternal destruction while we forfeit a life of freedom and eternal life given by God through the death of his son Jesus Christ on the cross. Thank God that He loves us and is willing to restore us back to himself. There is always a second chance and not only a second chance with God to come back - but we are not to take this for granted. Paul asks the Romans whether we shall continue sinning so that the grace of God will abound - and he says No!! (Romans 6:1). Let’s learn not to take the grace of god for granted.
You will realize that when Jesus was speaking to Peter after the breakfast, He asked him three times whether He (Peter) loved Jesus. The bible records that Peter got hurt because he thought that Jesus didn’t believe him because he had earlier denied him; but in the real sense, Jesus asked him three times so that He could counter the three times that he (Peter) had denied him. This is what God did. Jesus became the sacrifice that you and I would have offered for atonement to counter all the sacrifices that we would have made for all the sins that we made and thus paying our ransom for us so that we could be reconciled and restored back to God. What else do we need when Jesus did this for us? All we need to do is trust in him and live a life that will glorify him all the time as Jesus said in Matthew 5:16.
How I pray this day that the Lord will help us to live as per our calling and above all, restore us back to him where we have fallen.
Amen!!
