This passage is found in John 21, and the part of the story that jumped out at me was at the very start of John 21. In the previous chapter of John, Jesus has appeared to the disciples on more than one occasion, and here we find it about to happen again. Peter has decided to go fishing and after spending the night with no catch, Jesus appears and a miracle catch happens once again.
Why did Peter go back to fishing? He'd spent the last three years of his life with Jesus. He'd seen Jesus do amazing things including healing people as well as raising them from the dead but yet he chose to go back to fishing.
To be honest I've been wondering about this all day. I've tried to put myself in Peter's shoes and the only reason I can come up with is that Peter was feeling awkward because he'd let Jesus down by saying he didn't know Him. Jesus had already appeared to Peter and the others on more than one occasion. Peter was obviously happy to see Jesus as he is the only one in the story that jumps out of the boat to go and meet Jesus on the shore.
When we do something wrong it's so easy to go back to the old ways, it's so easy to fall back into what we are used to. Peter went back to fishing because it was what he was comfortable with, it was the easy option.
The great thing about this story is that Jesus forgives Peter and before we know it Peter is standing up in front of thousands of people telling them the good news that Jesus is Lord! When we have an encounter with the Creator of the Universe, it changes us completely. Let's make sure that when we mess up we don't go back to the old ways, let's make sure that we don't go back to the comfort zone. We need to come to the cross and move on with Him. Jesus forgives us so we need to forgive ourselves and move into all that He has for us.
Let's make sure that we don't go back to fishing, but continue to move on in Faith!
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