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Thursday, February 24, 2011

Do you love Jesus?

"He said to him the third time 'Simon, son of John, do you love Me?' Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time "Do you love Me?' And he said to Him, 'Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.' Jesus said to him, 'Tend my Sheep'"--John 21:17.  For me this is one of the most heart wrenching moments between Peter and Jesus.  Check out the immediate context in John 21:15-17.  On the surface, it looks like Jesus is asking the same question three times.  But the first two times Jesus is referring to the sacrificial kind of love, the kind of love God has for us.  The last time Jesus is making reference to the kind of love that exists just between friends.  In other words, the third time the question is more like "Do you like (Greek phileo) me?" as opposed to "Do you love (Greek agape) me?" See the difference? So my question for all of us is do we love Jesus or do we simply like Him?

Do you love Jesus? For Christians, the automatic answer would be yes.  But before we answer yes, let's look at Peter's situation in John 21:15-17 all three times Peter answers with phileo.  Rather than "I agape (love) you" Peter answers "I phileo (like) you." Phileo and agape both do mean love but as I said before they are each a different kind of love.  So why is Peter grieved?

Peter is grieved because he is still coming off having denied Christ 3 times prior to Christ's crucifixion. Peter realizes he still has some improvements to make.  I think Peter realized how much he had messed up in denying Christ.  I think we have all had that feeling of guilt when we know we have messed up and are confronted with it.  But here Christ is giving Peter another chance.  He tells Peter to tend His Sheep.  Christ gives us a second chance.  The point is we need to agape Jesus, not phileo Him.

So again I ask, do you love Jesus? Do you agape or do you simply phileo Jesus? Click here to listen to a podcast of an excellent and more detailed lesson on Peter's situation by one of my instructors here at the Bear Valley Bible Institute of Denver, Michael Hite.  Do you love Jesus? TEND HIS SHEEP! PRAY ABOUT IT! DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! LOVE Y'ALL GOD BLESS!

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