28 May Restoration Hardware

I don’t know if you’ve ever had a moment where you are trying to reconcile your feelings (real or perceived) of failure with your love for Jesus.

As in, you feel like you have blown it, or things have fallen apart, or things aren’t going how you would want…but.

But still, there, inside, is a love for God that even failure, divorce, despair or sickness couldn’t kill.

Why not?

Maybe you’ve seen too much, maybe you know too much, or maybe you have experienced too much to let go of God.

But between the feelings of failure and the way the world is…you feel a little lost.

Imagine now, Peter.

From biggest hero to largest failure: he repeatedly, publicly, denied he even knew Jesus. And now, at the end of John 21, he’s…just sort of slid back to his old life: fishing, mending nets, going through the motions.

And yet. And yet, Jesus comes to one like him, and asks him this question: “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” (John 21:17)

And may our answer be the same as Simon’s, no matter how we feel or what we face, when we are asked this question:

“Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

Three times Jesus asked him the same question, and John’s Gospel tells us Peter’s feelings were actually hurt by the end of it all, by this line of questioning; ours might have been, too.

But what Jesus is after with Peter, and can bring about with us, is what the world says cannot happen: restoration.

Three opportunities to affirm what was denied three times: love for Christ.

What might Jesus be after in your life, in this season?

Though it might be painful to look at, I’ll bet we all have some kind of human track record that needs some, shall we say, heavenly attention.

The truth is, Jesus comes to us, even in the middle of our confusion and feelings of failure, to both restore us to himself and to our people. And He always, always, always sends us out with these words:

“Follow me!” (John 21:19)

I write this today for two reasons: one, to catch us up on the “in-between space” in Peter’s life, for those of you who have been tracking with our series on what it means to follow Jesus through the lens of the life of Simon Peter (we’ll be moving into Acts 2 this week.)

And two, to simply affirm a core, Gospel truth: Jesus is in the business of restoration. Always has been, always will be, even in a life and a season like yours, and like ours.

Isn’t He, after all, the Great Shepherd?

“He restores my soul.” (Psalm 23:3)

Much love,

Morgan

P.S. We will have a very special guest this Sunday in person — a missionary from a restricted nation whom the church supports. The guest will be sharing the past year’s journey, and the content cannot be broadcasted. I hope you will be in the room with us to hear from this very special guest and to be blessed by the incredible testimony.