Peter’s interaction with Jesus on the shore of the lake brings to mind three take-aways about failure and the God of another chance. The first observation is that your failures are not final. Whatever it is you have done, its not the end, because God is not the God of a second chance, he’s the God of another chance.
The second observation is that God never wastes our failure. God is in the business of redeeming our failures and using them to become platforms upon which his grace can be displayed. Failure, when redeemed by God, can become a powerful tool to help others through their dark nights of the soul.
Finally, the 21st chapter of John’s gospel reminds me of Jesus’ fundamental assumption about humanity, and that is that people are more broken than bad. Many times we view people who have failed and are tempted to write them off because they are “bad people.” But Jesus doesn’t write us off as “bad.” He understands that we are broken, and our of that brokenness can make poor decisions, exercise bad judgment, and just plain commit sin. Because he views us through grace colored glasses he understands this about us. Even though Peter did the unthinkable and unspeakable, Jesus didn’t write him off. He gave him another chance. And that’s how He treats each of us when (not if) we fail.