Hello dear readers… no I haven’t forgotten this blog! But I’ve been away this last week, and in addition, got quite a bit going on in my life at the moment!

I hope you are going well and had a good Easter. I had quite an adventure over Easter, and I may draw from and elaborate upon this in coming blogs.

I hope you are saved, because if you are not, there is no new life and no progress can be made if you are not born again to begin with. Jesus said “ye must be born again” because that is the starting point.

To not be saved and try to build a Christian life is to have no foundation to build upon! I think we are guilty of trying to get people to “live Christian” without them actually being in the kingdom of God through true personal salvation to begin with.

Hopefully there is an old life and a new life, hopefully there is a before and after, hopefully there has been a new beginning in your life just as new as that new creation in Genesis 1, because Jesus makes “all things new” just as much now in personal salvation as he did at the beginning of the world.

Anyway so here is my thought for this blog… “no return to the old life”.

John 21:2 “There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples.”

John 21:3 “Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately; and that night they caught nothing.”

Just got back from a great trip from the NT and with quite a few thoughts to go on with… but thought of these verses this morning.

It’s from the final chapter of the book of John and takes place after the resurrection of Christ.

In this chapter… Peter returns to the “old life”.

… After a whirlwind three years with Christ, and after the dramatic events of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection… Peter goes back to fishing.

It started with him fishing… and now he’s back fishing! … for all that’s happened, he’s seemingly gotten nowhere.

Have you ever felt like that? Has so much happened in your life only to be back to square one and in the same place you were before?

… We are just after Easter, a time where people get away, meet up, have fun… and then post holiday blues hit soon after!

… back to reality! And that “buzz” from good times and maybe that renewed energy, determination and outlook for life now faces the buzzsaw of the reality of life.

People everywhere are trying to start a fire and keep it going, many fanning their flame every week with the hope of the next and then next event or Friday night with friends to strive towards.

But for Christians, something different should be going on. We live for more than the next energy hit to stay afloat, we have the power of the risen Saviour living in us… or should!

And sure, we all hit flat spots, and cold water seems to douse our most fervent flame… but we should only burn brighter for Christ as time goes on.

Jesus Christ taught that one of the most important things about following him is that there is no looking back, no turning back, and no going back.

And how can we go back and “peter” out? After all, what is there to go back to? It only gets better in Christ. That’s why Paul wrote about “pressing toward” Christ in his Christian race as should we all.

But here in the final chapter of John… Peter went back for a night … and it was empty. He spent a long night with his mates trolling the old waters that Jesus had delivered him from… only to realize the sheer barrenness of stepping back into a life that he had been liberated from.

It’s not there was anything wrong with fishing in and of itself! … it’s just that Jesus had made him a fisher of men… Jesus had changed his life, there was no going back.

… But he went back because he had been on the emotional rollercoaster. Peter was an emotional guy, but emotions are not the basis for following Christ. Peter was also influenced by other people, but other people are not the basis for following Christ.

To not walk back the Christian life… we have to have the real thing, and our energy for the Christian life cannot hinge on feelings and emotions and experiences, it must be based on true salvation, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the rock of God’s unchanging word.

Thankfully for Peter and the other disciples, Jesus met them that morning and set them back on the right path, and may all of us who are saved keep walking forward in our Christian life with him, no matter what place, time or season, our hearts burning for our Lord who lives forevermore.

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