Focus: John 21:17a - KJV
17. He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me?...
John 13:36-38
The very first commandment of God is that we love Him. It is clear though, that we cannot claim to love Him whom we do not see, when we fail to love our neighbors who we see. And when the Lord confronts us with the fact of our lack of love for Him, we are easily grieved assuming we love Him not knowing that the Lord knows them that do love Him. Superficial love is not the kind of love the Lord seeks but true, deep love.
Three times the Lord had to question Peter’s love for Him. To Peter’s mind, seeing Christ and hasting to meet with Him is a declaration and show of love. But like we see in the action of Judas as well as Peter’s turning away from the ministry that the Lord assigned him to, a kiss is not an indication of love. It is more shown in the obedience of the Lord’s command and fulfilling it to the letter.
The mind of God is for us to win souls unto Him by the help of the Holy Spirit. When we leave such vocation and concentrate only on our selfish interest, we indicate a lack of love for God. Jesus’ further instruction to Peter was to feed the sheep and follow Him. God wants each of us to follow Christ in all of our endeavors and ensure that the flock of God is fed with the bread of life. In doing that, we tell Him we truly love Him.
Please pray:
Father, I thank you for loving me. I know I have not loved you as you would want me to. Please forgive my shortcomings, in Jesus’ name. I seek the strength to express greater love than I have ever shown unto you from today; please grant the same to me and supervise my performance in it to the very end, in Jesus’ name. Let my love for you surpass that of anyone in my generation and that of those before me, in Jesus’ name. In all, as I can do nothing without you, please make me an example of loving you to many generations, in Jesus’ name.
Please share with others. God bless you.
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