Do You Love Him?

March 6 (John 21:15)

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?”  (ESV)

Jesus asks Peter if he loves Him more than the other disciples do because in Matthew 26:33 Peter had claimed that he did.  Jesus could well ask us the same question, but He might mean it differently.  If He asked it of me, He would likely gesture toward my job, my writing, my responsibilities, my time on the Internet, my time watching television, my time reading other books.  “Do you love me more than these?”

How many things get between us and our Lord?  At times there are so many I can barely see Him.  Do I truly love Him more?  If I did, then a log of how I spent the hours of my day would probably look very different than it does.

Look back over one day and ask where Jesus was in each of the things you did.  Was He a part of your dealings at the bank, the gas station, or the grocery store?  Was He involved in your business?  Could you see Him when you came home and relaxed?  We may want to answer with Peter that we love Jesus more, but our actions may suggest otherwise.

The prayer this week is John Donne’s Holy Sonnet XIV.

Batter my heart, three-person’d God; for you

As yet but knock; breathe, shine, and seek to mend;

That I may rise, and stand, o’erthrow me, and bend

Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new.

I, like an usup’d town, to another due,

Labour to admit you, but O, to no end.

Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,

But is captived, and proves weak or untrue.

Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,

But am betroth’d unto your enemy;

Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again,

Take me to you, imprison me, for I,

Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,

Nor ever chaste except you ravish me.

Copyright © 2016 by Steven R. Perkins

July 5 (Matthew 10:31)

Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.  (ESV)

I was washing our car in the driveway recently and really wanted to do a good job.  I used a soft, cotton rag for the cleaning and dried it with a chamois.  I spent a lot of time detailing the glass, the seats, and the dashboard.  As I worked, I could not help thinking about the comparison with how God loves us.  If I cared that much about an object that would not last forever and that I had purchased with money, how much more must God care about His children who will live forever and that He purchased with His own blood?

It was a wonderful reminder of two things.  First, there is the unfathomable love of God that beggars all description and dwarfs any of our emotions.  Then there is His constant teaching, which He often accomplishes through our mundane tasks.  The daily activities that make up our lives are filled with opportunities to see His hand at work.

Where can you see God working in your life?  It may be in something grand, but it does not have to be.  It may be in something perfectly ordinary and routine.  And when you do see some new facet of His love or His grace or His truth, what will you do about it?

Father, thank You for pouring out on all of us more love than we could ever comprehend.  Thank You, too, for communicating that love in every moment of every day.  Give me eyes to see and ears to hear, that I may know and serve You more and better.  In the name of Jesus, Who bought my life with His, amen.

Copyright © 2015 by Steven R. Perkins