The Great Fisherman

When we read the Apostle Peter's letter to the church, it is hard to remember that he was an uneducated fisherman.  While his letter certainly shows evidence of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, it is also a writing which bears the mark of the experiences that are a part of his life.  Perhaps, this is true of all writers.  What is written has a way of being filtered and shaped by past experiences and this is as true of the Apostle Peter as it is of any writer.  As we read Peter's epistle we cannot help but remember those things which shaped him.    

The first and most important thing which shaped Peter was his commitment to follow Jesus.  Andrew brought Peter, his brother, to Jesus and once Peter encountered Jesus, he was never the same.  From that moment he belonged to Jesus, lock, stock, and barrel.  Whenever we read Peter's letter, we know we are reading someone who was sold out to Jesus.  Later as we see him standing in the fiery wake of Pentecost, we see a man who had lost his wavering spirit.  He stood and preached to those gathered there with an unparalleled boldness.  Of course, one of the life changing moments of Peter was his visit to Cornelius in Caesarea where the Holy Spirit showed him that God showed no partiality.  There he learned that Jesus Christ was, indeed, Lord of all.  (Acts 10:1-36)     

Peter was a man of unwavering faith.  He was a man who stood boldly for Jesus.  He was a man who was open to the shaping influence of the Holy Spirit.  This was the man who wrote the letter to the church.  This, too, tells us something very important about this one who introduced himself as an apostle of Christ.  When Jesus called that fisherman to be a follower, He surely saw not just the man Peter was as he stood there with the smell of fish about him, but also the man who had the potential within him to be the great fisherman of the church.