Jesus Christ is your savior, my savior, and the savior of all mankind!
So what does it mean to love him?
John 14:23 (WEB) says,
Jesus answered him, 'If a man loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him.'
Love for Jesus is not mystical or ethereal! Jesus asks us to show our love very practically by obeying his commands. While the world's notion of love is freedom to please one's self, God's definition of love is commitment to please others. Jesus demonstrated loving obedience to his Father and now asks us for the same loving obedience. Has Jesus won your willingness to give up your self-serving attitudes to instead serve others?
John 21:15-19 (WEB) says,
15) So when they had eaten their breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?"
He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I have affection for you."
He said to him, "Feed my lambs." 16) He said to him again a second time,
Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?"He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I have affection for you."
He said to him, "Tend my sheep." 17) He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you have affection for me?"
Peter was grieved because he asked him the third time, "Do you have affection for me?" He said to him, "Lord, you know everything. You know that I have affection for you."
Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep. 18) Most certainly I tell you, when you were young, you dressed yourself and walked where you wanted to. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you don’t want to go." 19) Now he said this, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. When he had said this, he said to him, "Follow me."
Peter had just boasted earlier that even if all the other disciples fell away, he would never fall away. Yet all the disciples did run away and Peter denied Jesus three times! Jesus now confronts Peter about his boast to remind Peter of the value of humility and to restore him to his calling: to feed the sheep of Jesus. Do we love Jesus? Are we better than others? Are we willing to humbly feed Jesus' sheep? Are we willing to feed both the believing and the unbelieving, both the lost sheep and the found sheep? Are we willing to show love to all mankind?
1 John 4:20 (WEB) says,
If a man says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who doesn’t love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?
Jesus challenges us to show our love for him by loving our brother. God's commands are not burdensome, odd, or unreasonable. Jesus is building a loving family and he commands us to love one another. Are we with excuses like Cain asking, "Am I my brother's keeper?" Or are we committed to saying, "I am my brother's keeper!"
Jesus asks us to show our love to him by obeying him and loving others. Love Jesus!
