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John 21
What one question did Jesus ask Peter after his denial? Why did Jesus ask it three times? Luke records the story of a miraculous haul of fish before the start of Jesus’ ministry. This was the miracle through which Jesus called what I believe were His first apostles. Jesus specifically directed this miracle at Simon Peter, to whom Jesus specifically said, “from now on you will fish for people.” (Luke 5:10b). This was the point when Peter began to follow Jesus. In this chapter, John records what is essentially a repeat of this miracle, but this one takes place after Jesus’ resurrection. Once again, it was specifically directed at Simon Peter, as it was he who had decided to go fishing.
It makes me wonder if Peter thought he would simply go back to his old way of life now that Jesus was gone. Perhaps that is why, when Jesus first asked Peter if he loved Him, He said, “do you love me more than these?” (John 21:15b). Then, between His third directive to “feed my sheep” and His call to “Follow me!”, Jesus gave Peter an indication of just how closely he would follow – right up to his own crucifixion. All of this points back to Jesus’ statement to Peter when He first called him to follow. Peter’s days of fishing for fish were over. Jesus had directly handed His ministry off to him. From now on, Peter would fish for people.
I’m not sure what all the implications of that are, or of the application to my life. But I do find it interesting that we never seem to get the full story from any one person in the Bible. The recording of each of these similar but separate miracles tells us something. But taken together they give us a much more complete picture. They go together like hand in glove. I think that is likely by design. We have to look at the whole Bible to get the whole story. That’s because it isn’t any one man’s story. It is God’s story.
2 Chron. 15-16
After a long and faithful reign, how did Asa finish? What can you do to avoid this? Asa was human like the rest of us. He made a mistake – a big one. Somewhere during his long, peaceful reign, he stopped relying on God. This is a very easy thing to do, especially when we are under God’s blessing for a long period of time. Up to this point, Asa was no different than King David, who also messed up in a big way. It’s the reaction on being confronted with the mistake that separates the two men.
David acknowledged his mistake and he humbly accepted God’s justice in the wake of it. Not so with Asa. Asa’s pride flared up and he reacted in anger. Thus, the sin of his reaction became worse than his original mistake. Look and see what pride did to Asa. First, he mistreated God’s messenger – not a good thing! Then he unjustly took out his anger on some of the people. Finally, when the LORD sought to turn Asa’s heart back to Him through a disease, Asa hardened his heart against God, defiantly clinging to his pride.
I suppose it is cases like this that raise the debate over the concept of “once saved, always saved”. Asa was faithful to God the majority of his life. In the end, however, his heart was full of pride and defiance. He was told early on, “The LORD is with you when you are with him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you, but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.” (2 Chron. 15:2b). That doesn’t sound very hopeful for Asa to me! Only God knows where Asa’s heart was when he took his last breath, but if he died in his pride, I fear for his eternal fate.
The one thing I know for sure, though, is that God never refuses a humble heart. The size and scope of our sin does not matter. What matters is how we respond to God when He confronts us with it. I, for one, don’t want to take my chances with pride and that “once saved, always saved” concept. And so I pray fervently that God would keep my heart humble toward Him, thankful that He gave me His power, in the form of the Holy Spirit, to do so.