He said to him the third time, “…do you love Me?” —John 21:17
Have you ever felt the pain, inflicted by the Lord, at the very center of your being, deep down in the most sensitive area of your life? The devil never inflicts pain there, and neither can sin nor human emotions. Nothing can cut through to that part of our being but the Word of God. “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. And then he began to see what Jesus’ patient questioning meant. There was not the slightest bit of doubt left in Peter’s mind; he could never be deceived again. And there was no need for an impassioned response; no need for immediate action or an emotional display. It was a revelation to him to realize how much he did love the Lord, and with amazement he simply said, “Lord, You know all things….” Peter began to see how very much he did love Jesus, and there was no need to say, “Look at this or that as proof of my love.” Peter was beginning to discover within himself just how much he really did love the Lord. He discovered that his eyes were so fixed on Jesus Christ that he saw no one else in heaven above or on the earth below. But he did not know it until the probing, hurting questions of the Lord were asked. The Lord’s questions always reveal the true me to myself.
Oh, the wonder of the patient directness and skill of Jesus Christ with Peter! Our Lord never asks questions until the perfect time. Rarely, but probably once in each of our lives, He will back us into a corner where He will hurt us with His piercing questions. Then we will realize that we do love Him far more deeply than our words can ever say.
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Journal DJR
Good morning Lord,
Today, JD and I both doubted that we have had an experience like Peter’s described here. But we wondered if Peter even knew the depth of this short exchange with Jesus until after the fact, looking back, perhaps many years later when he realized that in “feed my sheep,” Jesus had used him to lead the start of the church that “turned the world upside down.” We then were tempted to compare our (lack of) experience with Peter’s and feel like “sub-standard Christians” But we’ve walked with you long enough to know that you don’t use guilt with your kids. So we pretty much reject any notion that is packaged with guilt, whether it comes from the pulpit, a theologian, pop culture, or our own mind. We will stay open to having an experience like Peter’s… but mainly we will focus on what you’ve shown us… Staying surrendered, striving to maintain and tighten our connection with you, staying curious, and ready to be obedient to whatever you show us. We’ll just live out of those simple basics and avoid controversies, whether theological, political or whatever else people find to argue and divide over. One blogger recently said that if we take that approach, we won’t get hired or published or elected. That’s probably true and we’re OK with that.
But what if I want you to be hired or published or elected? Somebody’s got to be published and elected.
Good point. OK, if you show us you specifically want one of those things… we’ll go for it with all we’ve got. But you’ll have to show us. We don’t want to go there from what we’ve come to call the Big Four. The four motivations of the normal human being without God’s interruption. To look good, feel good, be right or be in control. We’ve come to suspect those motivations creeping in to our thought streams and are getting better at bringing them quickly to your cross and trading them in for your direction .