Is It Possible to Overcome Shame and Guilt? | Mornings with Mico

Hey people, what's going on? My name is Miko and it's my one-on-one time with God. This week we are, as I've stated, just not really quick to shift from Easter Sunday. We are going to camp out into some of the passages that follow Jesus' resurrection in the gospel and just try to, I don't know, I just feel like I just want to just want to linger here for a minute, so that's what we're doing this week. And today we find ourselves in the book of John, verse 21, and I'll quickly orient us before diving into the scripture here. At this point Jesus is risen and he's like appearing before some of the different disciples and this is the first time he's actually appearing to Peter and Peter is, he was a fisherman before Jesus, before Jesus called him to be his disciple. And so Peter is now, you know, back being a fisherman, him and some of the other disciples, they're out fishing and Jesus appears to them initially, they don't know it's him. Jesus comes and he says, hey, maybe you should let your net down on the other side of the boat. And they're like, oh, you know, we've been out fishing all day. He's like, why don't you try letting it down there? You know, there may be some fish, you know, right on the other side of your boat. So they do that, get this huge score of fish. And one of the disciples, John recognizes like, oh my God, that's Jesus. And so that's what a story picks up. And I'll start at verse seven in chapter 21, it says, then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, it is the Lord. As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, it is the Lord, he wrapped his outer garment around him for he had taken it off and jumped into the water. The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, but they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it and some bread. Jesus said to them, bring some of the fish you have just caught. So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore.

It was full of large fish, 150, 153, but even with so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, come and have breakfast. None of the disciples dared ask him, who are you? They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead. When they finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Oh, he says, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? Yes, Lord, he said, you know that I love you. Jesus said, feed my lambs again. Jesus says, Simon, son of John, do you love me? He answered, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. Jesus said, take care of my sheep. The third time he said to Simon, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, do you love me? He said, Lord, you know, all things, you know that I love you. Jesus said, feed my sheep. And reading this, it was the phrase, come and have breakfast, that stood out to me. It just kind of popped off the page because my mind naturally like started to kind of like drop like a contrast between the last time Jesus had shared a meal with the disciples, which was the last supper. And then now here he is the next time that he appears to them after his resurrection. He's again sharing a meal with them and this is, you know, the first breakfast and the last supper, right? That was the last meal before the cross. And that was about sacrifice, a body broken, blood poured out, everything getting. This meal, the first meal after the resurrection, this was about restoration. And we're going to dive into that. That's kind of what we're going to dive into as we're reading through this, man.

But it was just, it just, I love this idea that Jesus didn't just leave us with the last supper, but then he also came back to make breakfast. If you're familiar with Peter's story at all, Peter, he was a fisherman. Like I said, before he had met Jesus and Jesus said, Hey, come with me. I'll make you a fisher of men. Peter was also the same disciple who walked on the water to get to Jesus when Jesus was walking on water to the boat. Peter said, Lord, if that's you, call me to you. And Jesus called him and he got out the boat and walked on the water to Jesus. So it's to see that happens, you know, to a degree again here where he sees Jesus from afar and doesn't wait to stay on the boat, but he just jumps out the boat and runs through the water to get to Jesus, right? Like this is. This is this is Peter's just expression, you know, of love just toward Jesus. That's just that's just, you know, how he feels about it. And then again, Peter, he's the same. He's the disciple who cut off the servant of the high priest. One of the guys when they were coming to kidnap Jesus. He was the one who cut off the guy's ear. This is also Peter who then in turn after Jesus is kidnapped and he's being crucified and they're like, hold on. Isn't that the guy that was with Peter? I mean, isn't that the guy that was with Jesus? And Peter's like, no, that wasn't me. You know what I'm saying? They like, no, that's the guy that was that was with Peter. And he's like, no, Lord. That like he's like, no, y'all. That's that's that's that ain't me. I don't know that man.

And he denied him. He did that three times, right? And Jesus even predicted. He told him. He said, Peter, you will deny me three times before the rooster crows. And when Jesus was being crucified, that's what Peter did. He denied him three times when because out of fear, you know, for his own life when he saw Jesus being crucified. So in this moment, I can't help but think about, you know, like where Peter was at this point, like he didn't just fail like those three times. He just quit. He went back to the water. He went back to being a fisherman. You know what I'm saying? He went back to the life that he knew. He went back to his to what he knew before coming to Jesus. And to me, that's one of those. It's one of those moments that hit home, man. I remember when I first came home from the joint and I was um, I was, you know, trying trying to, you know, stay on a straight and narrow and was working these um, working with this organization where like people with felonies and and like we would go out and and I'm like clean up the Expressway like clean up, you know, trash from the Expressway and give you like $37 a day, man. And I just, you know, like my cousin was like man, like he I'm gonna be on picking me up from, you know, one of those work days and he's like, man, I can't wait for you to wake up so we can get back to it man. Like you out here tripping, you know, and and but it was like

that was that like there was not only just these external pressures like to go back to the life. I knew like internally. I even battled with that bro. Like I remember having a job interview at that time and it was a job interview with like, um, it was it was the first of a series of interviews and this was the initial phone interview and soon as I pick up the phone, I've been prepping for this meeting all night the night before as soon as I pick up the phone, you know to to to, you know, do the phone interview. I asked a question about felonies and stuff like that and I'm like, yeah, they're like, okay. Yeah, there's no need to explain. We can't go any further with this man. And I remember coming back so deflated after that and thinking of myself like me. What are we doing bro? Like go back to the world, you know, like this all of these dreams and hopes and plans things you've been writing down when you was when you was locked up boy. That's that's fantasy. Get back to the world. You know, that's where your connections are. That's where your relationships are. That's where your cloud is like that's that's the world, you know, and it was just so like for me like in that moment. It was just it was it was like it was just that pressure like Go back to what you know, and that's that's a I don't know. Obviously. I didn't you know what I'm saying?

And I stayed the course and that's that's that's a different story for a different day. But here in the story where we see Peter going back to the world that he knew right nothing illegal or anything, but just going back to you know, the same mundane life and just being a fisherman right and this is who he was before he he had met Jesus, but this is also exactly where Jesus showed up. He showed up on the same Shore that he called him from initially right? This is where Jesus. This is where Peter was when Jesus first called Peter to be his disciple and now Peter goes back to that world and Jesus shows up again that time and that's not I don't believe that's that's that's like a coincidence, right when I see that in the scriptures that that's not an accident. That's a message. I don't know what that looks like for you, but whatever you feel right in your season of disappointment, right or you feel deflated and whatever going back to the world that you knew look like Jesus wants to meet you there, right that whether that's selling drugs whether that's that gang-banging whether that's just in past relationships that you know, you shouldn't been in whether that's whether that's homosexuality. I feel there to even just call that out with whatever that looks like whether that's doing drugs, whatever that is right like Jesus wants to meet you right there. He wants to meet you right there in the thick of that man. And the thing is like what we see here is Jesus doesn't come with like these conditions or like this. this this scowling disappointment in this moment like that's not even how he comes at him in this

moment man he doesn't come with this long lecture he comes with breakfast he comes with breakfast he comes with a meal and an invitation come eat with me chop it up with me man what's up come on right come on sis come on labra come on come on auntie like this is this is how he approaches this situation this is where he is i don't want us to again i don't want us to just um as we're looking into this i don't want us to just gloss over right like peter's failures in this moment because we see here like jesus doesn't jesus doesn't just gloss over that but he's also not coming with this scowling finger what we see here in the text right like right after breakfast this is when jesus jesus looks at peter and he asks him a question he says do you love him and then he asks him again and then he asks him a third time do you love me and the same number of times peter denied even knowing jesus this is the same number of times that peter then is asked do you love me it's not by coincidence this is jesus not skipping over the failure but this is him walking him through it every denial met with a question do you love me and every time peter says yes jesus gives him something to do feed my sheep this is him being restored back to his initial calling he jesus here he's not just restoring um peter's feelings in this he's restoring his position we're called not to just receive grace and not just to receive you know um salvation we're called to be to live life on mission we're called to you know we have a purpose and we're called to that purpose here you see peter being restored back to that purpose go out and feed my sheep anybody that that that that if as a disciple of of christ the holy spirit lives in you so any room you're in now jesus has access to the people in those rooms jesus is not calling you to just sit with your faith by yourself like no we're called make disciples of all nations wherever you are wherever you are physically around the world he's calling you how does jesus have access to the hearts and the minds of the people around you it's through you that's the reason why he needs you to not just waddle in your defeats or or where you fell short or your failures like no i need you to get back up the same perfect love that that gave a sacrifice that's the same perfect love and perfect wisdom right here that's bringing you back into restoration after you fall for him this is this is this is this is jesus this is god's sovereignty he doesn't need you to be perfect the first time in order for him to have his way through you but that's what repentance is right that's why he's called us not to just have the last supper but also to be restored right here in the first breakfast man i think it's exactly what what you see him doing with with peter that's exactly what he's doing with you and me the restoration that he gave peter that's the

same restoration that he has for us the same man who failed at the table is now invited back to another table the last supper represents jesus's innermost circle peter loses his sense of belonging there through his denial but in john 21 we see this is where jesus restores it jesus restores that with the first breakfast jesus doesn't just leave us with the last supper y'all he also comes to make breakfast because that's who he is after failure after denial after the distance he doesn't come back with rejection he comes back with an invitation he comes back to restore you for you to lean into that and for you to live in purpose that's who he is that is his perfect wisdom his perfect sovereignty he can do all he has control he knows all that's his perfect omniscience he knows all of the failures all of your missteps he knows all of that he's not worried about that he wants to restore you back to i don't know if for you maybe maybe when you first got baptized and then and then you fell away maybe it was when you were singing at your grandmama's church when you was a kid or maybe when you was going to sunday school with your cousins or something like that that invitation that he gave you then now he's trying to restore that you don't have to live and and and feel ashamed and distant and separated because you fail from that space he's like i got that covered my grace covered that i'm here to restore you that's what this is bro like that is that is what it means to walk with to walk with christ don't get so wrapped up to where we fail short because he's also the God who restores. I got a question for you. Where has shame or failure made you feel like you're on the outside with God? Where has shame or failure gotten in the way of the restoration that's available to you? You, where are you allowing your guilt of your sin to outweigh his grace and his forgiveness? What lies are you believing in? Can you identify the voice? Can you recognize, do you know his voice? He says, my sheep know my voice. Do you know his voice? Cause it does not sound like condemnation. It does not sound like shaming. Doesn't sound like guilt tripping.

He's the God who restores. He wants to meet you right here where you are right now, where you are in the situation you're in, he's willing to meet you right there. The question is, will you embrace it? Will you embrace his presence? Will you accept that restoration and live life moving forward in repentance, in purpose? That's our burden for the day. That's our burden for the day. After the resurrection, each day, we're just walking through these different elements of this faith walk. Some may hit home more than others. Some may hit home at a later time. Some of these things you may really be wrestling with right now, man, and hope this blesses you. I hope this helps you to get back, to see these things the way Jesus sees these things, to see this, see God's plan the way he sees it. I pray, actually I'm literally going to pray, Lord help us to shift our perspective. Help us to shift our perspective and die to the guilt and shame that is holding us back and that we may accept fully the grace and restoration that is available to us because you're not just the God who sacrificed, you're the God who also restores and it's your grace that covers all of our sins and all of our failures. You don't simply disregard them, Lord. You address them in a way that restores us back to you. May we accept that, lean into that, and walk in purpose. Proud to sing your son Jesus' name. Amen.