Learning From/With Peter

I love how God will show us something in His Word that we’ve missed before. The Holy Spirit is a wonderful teacher!!!! (understatement) :)

This morning as I was reading Luke 5:1-11, He showed me something I’ve never really noticed before, but it’s something I truly desire to live!

On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.
(Luke 5:1-11 ESV)

There’s a sequence to Peter’s relationship with Jesus. In the beginning, He recognizes Jesus as Master and obeys Him even when it doesn’t make sense. Through this obedience, He is blessed in a way that is completely out of the realm of what is to be expected humanly speaking and Jesus (God the Son) is glorified. Peter recognizes that Jesus is God (not only Master) and he sees his own sinfulness in contrast. It drives Peter to his knees asking Jesus to depart because he knows he’s not worthy to even be in Jesus’ presence. Jesus’ response is to tell Peter to not be afraid, from that point on Peter would be catching men. (A career change that will shift the major focus from providing for himself and his family in the present to following what Jesus was calling him to do –Peter and his family’s physical needs were met, but the focus was on Jesus.) Peter’s response to this is to leave EVERYTHING and FOLLOW Jesus.

I wonder how often I’m tempted to recognize Jesus as Master and partially obey but stop there. How much will I be missing if I do that! My desire is to obey Him completely in faith, even when it looks crazy to the world. (Imagine what Peter would have missed had he only let Jesus use his boat, but not gone out to fish again.) I long to see Jesus as He is, to recognize He is God, to understand my own sinfulness and to radically abandon everything in my pursuit of Him. I know that He’s called me to be a wife and mother and to homeschool my children. Radical abandonment doesn’t mean leaving this. In fact, it means living this out completely for His glory with my focus on Him, serving and loving others following His example. It means dying to myself, my desires, what would be pleasing to me now (self focus), in order to live completely and totally for Him. The phrase He gave me last year totally applies – whose life is it anyway? (Not mine anymore, I gave it away. My desire is for it to be totally His.) I know that none of us can live this completely this side of heaven. (Peter didn't either; I love him because I can identify with his humanness and failings, yet his love for Christ.)

So that’s my desire for the new year, to live a life radically abandoned to Jesus. Following Him and living for Him. This life here, today, is just the beginning, a dim picture of what will go on forever – eternity. May we have an eternal focus and live for Him. (What a life of joy and peace that passes all understanding! Not a life void of trouble; He’s told us that in this world we will have trouble, but a life of His joy and His peace. A life lived for Him!)

Happy New Year!