He said to him the third time, "…do you love Me?"
—John 21:17
{CHAMBERS} ““Peter
was grieved because He said to him the third time, ‘Do you love Me?’ ” Yet he
was awakened to the fact that at the center of his personal life he was devoted
to Jesus. […] The Lord’s questions always reveal the true me to myself.”
{ELGIN} Do you struggle with your devotion to the
Lord? Often times when people ask us
questions, we don’t answer them honestly, or at least completely. And for good reason. We want to maintain appearances. We don’t want people to know what wretches we
really are. Where we might have people
fooled, there is nothing that can be hidden from God. When Samuel went to Jesse’s to anoint the new
king, the Lord told Samuel (1 Samuel 16:7) “Do not look at his
appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord
does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord
looks at the heart.” That is why Peter
said “Lord, You know all things.” As
Christians, our primary concern should not be on what people think about us,
but what the Lord knows about us. When asked
what the greatest commandment was Jesus answered (Matthew 22:37-38) “Love God
with all your heart.” Our primary directive. When Peter said he did love the Lord then
Jesus said, do the next thing, feed My sheep. In other words, love others … the
secondary directive (Matthew 22:39).
Jesus knows our every weakness. He knows the answer before He asks it. Like Peter, what He wants us to do is to get
real, and get right. Then when we have
done that, to let our light shine.
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