Good morning, friends,
I appreciate you taking the time to read through these weekly blog entries, and hope you find them to be encouraging.

I just finished the book of John in my quiet times, and in the last chapter a couple of interesting observations came to me. There we read the familiar account of Jesus meeting the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias. The disciples had gone fishing during the night, but had not caught anything. By morningtime, they were worn out and ready to pack it up. Jesus appears and tells them to cast their net on the other side of the boat. When they did so, they pulled in a huge load – 153 fish!

John was the first to recognize that this was Jesus on shore, and he told it to Peter. What struck me were the reactions of Peter and John, both very distinct personalities. Peter “threw himself into the sea” to get to Jesus. He could have cared less about the fish. All he cared about was being with Jesus. All inhabition or caution or sense of responsibility to John or anyone else was instantly gone, and he swam as hard as he could for the 100 yds to the Lord he loved.

In contrast, the other disciples, including John who had first recognized Jesus, came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish onto shore. Did they love Jesus any less? I don’t think so. But they were less demonstrative in how they showed their love, and sensed the need to finish the task they had started.

A couple applications –
I think each of us needs to have some Peter and some John in us, expressed at different times in different ways. At times, we need to just go ballistic in our headlong pursuit of the Lord. We need to be a Peter in how we throw all caution to the wind, any concern about what people will think and what might be the responsible thing to do as we leap out of the boat consumed with a passion to be in the presence of the Lord we love. Perhaps as you think about it, your passion has cooled in your pursuit of Christ. Take a lesson from Peter, and reignite your first love. I can tend to get so consumed with “work” and the responsibilities of life that I fail to leap, to get fired up in my white-hot passion for Christ.

At other times, loving Jesus means we are faithful to finish the tasks before us. We quickly recognize the Lord and his voice, as John did, and then obediently follow His command, and execute the mission to which he has called us. Are you struggling to stay on target with where God has you, in your career, in your ministry, in relationships with certain people? As you make your way closer to the Lord, be faithful in the opportunities before you to show your love for Jesus by excellence in what you do.

I want to encourage you this week to leap like Peter, and serve like John.

Pressing on,
Eric