John 21B
By Shelly Morin
“I am going fishing.” I can just picture Peter sitting with his friends as he says this in John 21:3. No doubt reeling from the extreme emotional roller coaster of the past couple of weeks, he decides to go back to his comfort zone…fishing. He was a fisherman by trade. I have always pictured Peter as a burly, brutish man. He was, after all, a man of the sea. This is where his strengths, skills and giftedness were used day in and day out. This is where he was comfortable, but Jesus was not done stretching Peter.
The smell of fish can be overwhelming, but I imagine that a different smell caught Peter’s attention when he reached the shore on this day—the charcoal fire. No doubt it brought back the memory of warming himself by a charcoal fire the night he denied Jesus. But unlike the first, this charcoal fire brought healing to Peter’s heart. I believe this is where Peter responded to the grace and mercy He had received and offered himself as a sweet-smelling sacrifice to His Lord and Savior. Apart from Christ, Peter was unable to catch anything, but as he submitted himself to Jesus, he was used to bring in a huge haul.
God has given each of us different strengths, skills and gifting that He desires to use to further His kingdom. Are you willing to allow God to stretch your comfort zone? I pray that you accept the challenge as we sing, “Take our lives as a sacrifice, shine in us Your holy light, purify our heart’s desire, and be to us a consuming fire.”
