“After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias;and on this wise showed he himself. There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee,and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples. Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a-fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately; and that night they caught nothing. But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No. And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes” (John 21:1-6).
Our study for July is entitled “Show.” This week we will look at the grace we came to know and understand better last month through the example of Peter’s life. As our introduction states “He not only found and received grace, but he also championed grace (often at great risk) and challenged others to do the same.” This should help us show grace to others as we complete the month’s study.
However, first we have to be able to “show grace to ourselves.” If you’ve ever done a study of the life of Peter, you find a portrait of God’s grace. He was often in more hot water than a tea bag.
In spite of our personalities and tendencies to fail, God doesn’t give up on us. We see in John 21 that Christ didn’t give up on Peter. We tend to share Peter’s problem—guilt and inability to show grace to ourselves.
As we look at today’s verses, we see a guilt-ridden Peter with six other disciples. It was obvious they were feeling down. Peter decides to go fishing. Why not? That had been their livelihood before they were called to be disciples. Peter had to feel like such a loser when they fished all night and caught nothing. Come morning they saw someone on the shore. At first they didn’t recognize that it was Jesus. He called out to the disciples and wanted to help them. (Sounds like a loving father, giving His “children” good advice.) They heeded and caught a multitude of fish. Tomorrow we will continue our study of John 21.
Sue Winchester
Missouri
PRAY TOGETHER: Pray that like the disciples, you will listen to your Loving Father’s good words of instruction today. Pray also for these FWBIM missionaries now returning to the States: Matt and Cristina Price, Tim and Lydia Awtrey, Cathy Crawford, Rusty and Brenda Carney, Anthony and Lea Edgmon, and Donnie and Ruth McDonald.
