Month: February 2019

Feb

2019

Guilt Free

There is a HUGE issue today keeping people from having a close relationship with God. This particular problem is often the very reason many folks stay away from churches and from God in particular.

The problem is, “Guilt” and “Condemnation.”

Most of us understand what a “guilt trip” is. Have you ever had a guilt trip laid you? You know; “I do everything thing for you, the least you can do for me is. . .” and you fill in the blank.

Some people are experts at this, and I will say that most of you reading this, may have even tried it a time or two; I know I have!

Guilt is a powerful motivator, albeit a negative one. A trip to the local supermarket and you find “fat free” cookies or cottage cheese; the label says: “Guilt Free.”

Products with the “Guilt Free” label sell like hot cakes, because people hate feelings of guilt, and want to be free from it!

What is guilt anyway?

Guilt: guilt is a state in which one experiences conflict at having done something one believes one should not have done (or, conversely, not having done something one believes one should have done). It gives rise to a feeling that does not go away easily, driven by conscience.

Whenever we have done something that is wrong, or if we neglect doing something we know we should do, our conscience feels guilt. It seems to hang in there for days, weeks, and even years, never letting go, always a reminder of something done that was wrong.

For some, this feeling is so ingrained, that it begins to produce behavior problems. For others, the only way to deaden the feelings of guilt is to turn to alcohol, drugs, or other things, finding temporary relief, only to feel even worse, as the affects of those stimulates wear off.

Many times the feelings of guilt are misplaced. A young person who has been verbally, physically, or sexually abused, mistreated by parents, relatives, or others; people who should have been there to protect them.

The young person often feels guilty for the violations committed against them. They feel as though they were the responsible party, and guilt is, heaped on! They go through life feeling as though they are responsible for everything that goes wrong.

My guess is that many of you understand this, all too well.

To experience guilt, real or imagined, is a powerful thing, and often it is a tool used by the devil to keep people away from God.

One of the greatest reasons I stayed away from church, as a young man, was that I had done so much that was wrong, I had committed so many “sins” that the idea of actually coming into a church made me feel afraid.

I was one of those guys who said; “If I walk into church, the walls will fall down.” Have you ever felt like that?

Those feelings of fear and trepidation are not necessarily a bad thing. As we approach the God of the universe, we know He is Holy, Righteous, that He is a God of Wrath and Judgment, no doubt about it!

Speaking of those without Christ Jesus said:

John 3:36

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.

Jesus said, those without Him, without the Son, are guilty! Being guilty also brings another problem that goes right along with feelings of guilt, and those are feelings of condemnation!

Many, struggling with deep feelings of guilt, feel as though they are condemned. A person struggling under a load of guilt feels as though they are serving a life sentence, they feel hopeless, valueless, and feel as though there really is no good reason to live!

Again, people in this guilty, condemned state, often avoid church and God especially. Because God is Holy, Righteous, and would never have anything to do with them.

Those feelings of condemnation, are not entirely misplaced either; Jesus said this:

John 3:16-18

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

Yet, in spite of this, we are inexplicably, drawn to Him, because we know that our only hope lies with Him. We begin to approach Him! We make a move toward God, even risking going to the church, and at the first meeting, we realize that the walls did not cave in!

Then, in an instant, you reach out to God, risking everything, and He touches you!

BOOM!

Instead of getting a backhand across your face, you get an embrace, waves of love cascading over your heart. God welcomes you wholeheartedly; like a long lost son or daughter; He gently wipes away your tears, your fears, and you know, you belong to Him!

Romans 8:1-2

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.

Hallelujah!

You are free! The death sentence lifted!

You are GUILT FREE!!!

Somebody please say AMEN!

Now, for some of you that have already met this Jesus, you are reading this today and you find yourself with those same old feelings of guilt and shame.

You have walked with Jesus for a while, and somewhere, somehow, things just do not feel the same. You made a small mistake, then another, and another, and soon you begin to feel worse than ever before.

How can this be?

What is going on here?

How can you be free again?

Psalm 32:1-5

Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.

When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.

For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.

Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD “— and you forgave the guilt of my sin.

Too many times when we sin as a Christian, we feel so bad about it that we refuse to acknowledge it. The last thing we want to do, is go to God and tell Him what we already know He knows!

Therefore, we avoid it. We put it off, and we begin to feel guilty, and shameful. It piles up, we begin to get sad faces, our bones begin to waste away, and inwardly we groan. We avoid the very One who can help us!

The Bible says to acknowledge our sin, don’t hide it, don’t cover it up, but just tell God what you did, say it out loud to Him, and tell Him you are sorry. He then forgives you! It is that simple!

If you keep it hidden, then guilt does its work of bringing feelings of condemnation, hopelessness sets in, depression follows, and we have a defeated Christian, and the devil rejoices!

You become like a Lion without teeth, powerless prayer, poor Christian witness to the world around you, withdrawn, you stay to yourself.

The devil has you right where he wants you. The devil will continue to, systematically destroy you, until you are, totally crushed!

Do not let him get away with it. Go to God right now and settle it. Tell God, in plain words what you have done. If you cannot remember everything you have done, tell Him so, He knows!

Get your teeth back!

Take back, what the devil tried to steal, and be guilt free again!

Feb

2019

Forgiving From Your Heart

Do you remember the parable of the unmerciful servant? Peter wanted to know how many times he should forgive; the answer may not have been what he expected. Let’s check it out.

Matthew 18:21-25

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

“Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

“The servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

“But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.

“His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’

“But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.

“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”

This is a familiar parable, one that you have no doubt read many times. To put this in context, just prior to this parable, Jesus talked about what to do if a brother sins against you, and after hearing this brief teaching on dealing with a brother who sins against you, Peter comes to ask Jesus a rather interesting question.

“Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?”

I’m not sure, but I think Peter may have had a rather short fuse, and when it came to forgiving, he probably struggled a bit. When he asked the question, I think Peter was looking for a limit here. You know, “at what point can I refuse to forgive?” Jesus’ answer was not what Peter had expected!

To explain forgiveness to Peter, and to you and me, Jesus told a story. In this story, I think we can find a few truths that may help us, when it comes to forgiving from the heart.

This parable primarily has to do with forgiving a financial debt, but the application of this story applies to many different situations in which someone has trespassed, or sinned against you.

In the parable that Jesus told, the king wanted to settle accounts, and was calling in the debts owed.

When this particular man came before the king, he was unable to pay his debt. The fault was clearly with the man, and not the king. For whatever reason, the man could not clear his debt, and king, was now “stuck” with it.

Now there appears to be two problems:

The first is now the king is upset, and rightfully so. He has a debt that he should not bear. It was not his fault, and he has every right to demand it! He is frustrated, hurt, and betrayed, the trust he had toward his servant is broken.

The second is that the man, who failed in his obligation to the king, is now in danger of being, sold into slavery, even placing his whole family in jeopardy.

As the story goes, the man fell on his knees before the king, begging for patience, promising to pay it all back, just give me more time! The king looking at this display of emotion, felt compassion for the man, and forgave the whole debt! In one fell swoop, the king took care of both problems.

In forgiving the man his debt, the king released himself from the right to demand what was due, absorbing the cost of the debt, and the debtor was free from the need to repay something he was unable to.

We can learn two lessons here, which will help us not only to forgive, but also to be forgiven.

Granting Forgiveness

The first lesson has to do with granting forgiveness. The king saw the despair of the man who owed the debt. He seemed totally unable to repay what was owed.

Jesus said that the king had “compassion” on the man. Unless the king would have experienced compassion, I doubt very much that he would have been able to forgive this man his debt.

As you and I experience debts or, “SINS against us, it is very unlikely that we will ever truly forgive another for those sins, unless we have compassion. Without compassion for those who have sinned against you, the debt remains.

Sin has affected all of humanity. Not one person is exempt from it! Sin rears its ugly head in many, many forms; lying, stealing, cheating, murder, adultery, greed, lust; the list is long!

If you have lived longer than a day, someone has probably sinned against you, and if you are blessed to live another day, it will likely happen again. We live in a sinful world, and sin happens! When it happens to you, what will you do with it?

Recall the Lord’s Prayer:

Matthew 6:9-14

“This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

The greatest temptation that any of us ever will face is the temptation to, not forgive.

We have been forgiven much by the Greatest King that ever lived! Our Great King, saw the terrible plight we were in, and while we were unable to correct the wrong we had done, He forgave us all our sin!

Remember, unlike the parable Jesus used, we were not going to be, sold for the debt we owed, we were going to die for it! The wages of sin is death! God has forgiven us much!

We must forgive those who sin against us, to hold their sin against them, is to negate our own forgiveness!

Receiving Forgiveness

The second part of this lesson has to do with receiving forgiveness. This part of the lesson is tied to the first part.

To receive forgiveness is to be willing to forgive.

The man in this story was no doubt thrilled with the cancelled debt. He was truly distressed before the King, and was on his knees begging for patience and mercy; the King had compassion, and forgave the whole debt! I imagine the man was so grateful!

However, not long afterwards, that man encountered someone who owed him far less than what he had owed the king, and he demanded the whole amount, even having the man arrested and put into prison!

Of course, when the King found out about it, He was furious! The King ordered the man who refused to cancel another debt, thrown in prison.

The problem was that this man did not recognize or remember how much debt the king forgave him. He was forgiven much, much more, than the man who owed him very little.

Any sin inflicted upon you by another, will pale in comparison with the sin you have inflicted against God.

Yet God has forgiven you of all your sins! Why would you hold something against another? Why would you throw away your own good fortune at the expense of another? How foolish!

If this man would have taken the time to remember the depth of his own forgiveness, he would not have demanded the small amount someone owed him, and the outcome of this story would have been quite different.

Have you ever sat down and considered what Jesus has done for you? I mean, have you considered what this Great King has done on your behalf?

How badly do you want God to forgive you of your sins, bad enough for you to forgive others from the heart?

Perhaps you struggle with compassion. Ask God to show you what He thinks of those you cannot forgive; ask Him how much value He places on them. Look at others from His perspective, and you will begin to get a sense of what is at stake.

Remember, if you cannot forgive from your heart, you have not forgiven, and you are still in your sins.

You will know that you have forgiven from the heart when you pray this way:

“Father, I forgive this person for the sin inflicted upon me; and please Lord, I am asking that you forgive them too.”

Feb

2019

Burning UP – Or Burning OUT

As I have been traveling and speaking; talking to different pastors, and leaders of various churches, I have been hearing some people talking about, and experiencing what they term “burn-out.”

Have you experienced this? It usually begins subtly; a growing dissatisfaction with the Christian service that you have been doing in and through the church. Passion for people begins to ebb and wane.

You may even begin to experience a slow, somewhat unnoticeable, hardening of the heart. It shows up when you find your eyes dry, during an experience that used to bring tears. You begin to notice a lack of compassion, your temper seems to quicken.

Your concern for the lost people of the world begins to weaken, passion for their salvation slips, and quite frankly, if they get Jesus, fine, if they don’t. . .Oh Well!

Love for God seems to cool as well, and love for others, is simply getting downright cold!

What I am talking about is, commonly called “burn-out.”

Some sobering statistics from Focus on the Family regarding pastors:

Fifteen hundred pastors leave the ministry each month due to moral failure, spiritual burnout, or contention in their churches.
Fifty percent of pastors’ marriages end in divorce.
Fifty percent of pastors are so discouraged that they would leave the ministry if they could, but have no other way of making a living.
Eighty percent of seminary and Bible school graduates who enter the ministry will leave the ministry within the first five years.
Seventy percent of pastors constantly fight depression.

If this is reflective of professional men and women who are in full time ministry, it certainly reflects those in laity as well! Those of you, who have families, jobs, and busy schedules, can easily fall into this “burn-out” category.

But what about Jesus? Did He experience this? Jesus certainly grew tired, even weary, but He did not experience “burn-out.”

There is a great difference between burning up and burning out!

If you light a lamp, and watch it burn, it will begin to “burn-out” when it gets low on oil. In order for it to continue to burn, there must be a replenishing of the oil, otherwise the lamp will “burn-out” and grow cold.

So it is with us; if we are not replenished, if we separate ourselves from spiritual renewal, and fellowship with the Holy Spirit, then our lamp will grow dim, and we will become dissatisfied with our service to God. It will become a duty, not a blessing, a chore, rather than an act of love.

We need to become more like Jesus, and less like the world we live in. The world is full of self-serving ideals, which in the end, come up short.

We often compare ministry results against the backdrop of the contemporary world in which we live, and we grow dissatisfied. We want results, and we want them now! We want fruit, and we want it now!

When we realize that our Christian service may take months, perhaps years, before we see the results, we get frustrated, and instead of trusting, and waiting upon God, we take matters into our own hands. Sometimes we will over extend ourselves to the point of exhaustion!

If we begin to operate in our own strength, and in our own wisdom, our “oil” begins to run low, and will eventually run out! The problem began when we took matters into our own hands. This “turning” from God happens so subtly, that it is almost unnoticeable!

It is time for the church, and those who have come to Christ, to return to Him, to learn from Him, and to become like Him. He found renewal in being with His Father. He took time to get away, and pray; we need to do the same!

If we spend time with God, the true God, then we will walk in a state of continual renewal, we will not have to go on special retreats hoping to “connect” with God, and be renewed. It will become a part of our life; we will “often” go away to lonely places and get rest, physical and spiritual rest.

Then, like Jesus, when the crowds come, and encroach upon your “retreat” your eyes will well up with compassion, you will feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and heal the sick, and it will not be a burden but a joy!

You will begin to burn up, not burn out. Passion will rise up! You will be a flame!

Listen to the words of John Wesley; when asked how he drew the crowds:

“I set myself on fire and the people come to watch me burn” (John Wesley)

And revival preacher and author Leonard Ravenhill says;

“You don’t have to advertise a fire.” (Leonard Ravenhill)

We need to get back to the basics of Christianity. Ours is a mission of faith, trust, and reliance on the Holy Spirit of God, and not on fancy programs, slick slogans, or our own wisdom and strength! When we operate on our wisdom, we reap what the Scriptures say we will reap:

Proverbs 16: 25

There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.

Jesus told us straight out. . .

John 15:4-6

Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.

The true source of “burn-out” is a lack of fellowship with our God. Take time, MAKE time, to sit with the Father, talk to Him, and let Him refresh you, replenish you, and send you!

I for one, refuse to burn out, I will however, do all I can to keep oil in my lamp, so that I will burn up, not out!

Feb

2019

Come Now, Let Us Reason Together

There seems to be, two different types of people emerging after an encounter with Jesus; one kind recognizes that the journey may get tough, sacrifices will need made, but the joy of following the Savior is greater, the rewards of a life spent following the master are worth any amount of sacrifice!

These folks find joy and peace in the midst of great pain and suffering. They always seem to be moving forward, gaining strength day by day, being built up in God’s holy Word! They begin to produce fruit for their labors, and people around them begin to come into the Kingdom of God too!

For the other group, they exhibit a “dragging” of the feet, so to speak, an unwillingness to obey the clear teachings of God. Jesus begins to take them on a journey, and they quickly realize that the way is steep, and they are carrying too much baggage, and He tells them to drop some of the “things” they carry, but they refuse!

Jesus decides to take a turn, and they realize that the way is unfamiliar, and out of fear, refuse to go!

For this group, service to God becomes a burden, rather than a joy. Obedience to God’s Word becomes frightfully difficult. It becomes a duty, and no longer done from a position of love.

It is unfortunate, but many people fall into the second category. For those who will resist the call of God on their lives, for those who refuse to obey the clear teachings of the Bible, the words from Isaiah seem quite appropriate!

Isaiah 1:5-6

“Why should you be beaten anymore? Why do you persist in rebellion? Your whole head is injured, your whole heart afflicted. From the sole of your foot to the top of your head there is no soundness– only wounds and welts and open sores, not cleansed or bandaged or soothed with oil.”

According to this verse, there are consequences for rebelling against God. You will wear yourself out! Your whole being will suffer!

It is not uncommon for those resisting God, who walk in rebellion to Him, to face increasing depression, fits of rage, anger, and could even become physically ill.

Yet God is patient, He waits for those who are in this “sea of rebellion” to come to their senses. When they do, God gives this incredible offer:

Isaiah 1:18-20

“Come now, let us reason together,”

says the LORD.

“Though your sins are like scarlet,

they shall be as white as snow;

though they are red as crimson,

they shall be like wool.

If you are willing and obedient,

you will eat the best from the land;

but if you resist and rebel,

you will be devoured by the sword.”

For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

I just love this Scripture; God says; “Come now, let us reason together.” It’s like God has just poured a cup of coffee for you, and invites you to the table, One on one, to see if there can be a solution. God is awesome!

So . . . which type of Christian are you?

Whatever the case may be, a sold faithful walk with Him, or a dragging of the feet; take time today to respond to His words; “Come now, let us reason together.”

Feb

2019

Do You Love Me?

Without a doubt, God has shown His love to us repeatedly! We can never wear out the Scripture in John 3:16; “For God so Loved. . .”

And what about these. . .

Ephesians 5:1-2

“Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

Colossians 3:12

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”

1 Thessalonians 1:4

“For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you. . .”

1John 4:10

“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

Through these Scriptures, and hundreds more like them, it becomes obvious; God loves us! Indeed, the whole of the Bible is a Book of love, an expression of God’s love towards us!

The question is not; “Does God love us,” but rather; “Do we love Him?”

I want to take you on a journey with a man called Peter, along with a couple of other men, James and John, commonly referred to as disciples, or the “inner three.”

These men walked with Jesus; actually walked with Him in the flesh, they shared meals together, and spent dozens of nights around the campfire talking with Jesus. If anyone knew the heart of Jesus, these men did, if anyone could love and obey His teaching, these men would.

The Disciples were very much like us. By that I mean, they were not stunning models of obedience and passion, but were quite human, and showed signs of their ‘humanness” all along the journey.

They were fishermen, physically strong, hard working, simple, yet very determined men. These men responded to the invitation from Jesus; “Follow Me.” It was at that point, that these men had an encounter with Jesus, and made a decision to follow Him; just like you did.

These men had many of the same struggles that you have.

Peter, James and John, were closest to Jesus, these men saw Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, they were there when Jesus raised dead girl, and they were there when Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane.

If anyone could get their walk right with Jesus, it would be these guys. Yet these men struggled understanding God’s will, and had trouble obeying Jesus, here are a few examples;

James and John wanted to call down lightening to destroy some people who did not welcome Jesus. Luke 9:53-55

“. . . but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” But Jesus turned and rebuked them.”

James and John apparently got their mother to ask Jesus if they could sit at either side of Him in heaven . . . rather arrogant don’t you think? Matthew 20:20-22

“Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him.

“What is it you want?” he asked.

She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”

“You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?”

“We can,” they answered.”

While standing on the mount of transfiguration, at one of the holiest, and most reverent times in the Bible, as Jesus stands there with Elijah and Moses, Peter blurts out; “It is good that we are here, I will build a shelter for each of you.” What was he thinking! Matthew 17:1-4

“After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.

Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

At one of the most critical times in Jesus’ life, while He is about to be arrested, Peter pulls out a knife, and slices a man’s ear off! John 18:10

Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.)

In the Garden of Gethsemane James, John, and Peter fell asleep! Matthew 26:40-42

“Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”

Peter swore that he would die with Christ if need be, but in the end denied knowing Jesus three times! Matthew 26:69-75

Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him. “You also were with Jesus of Galilee,” she said.

But he denied it before them all. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.

Then he went out to the gateway, where another servant girl saw him and said to the people there, “This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth.”

He denied it again, with an oath: “I don’t know the man!”

After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, “Surely you are one of them; your accent gives you away.”

Then he began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!”

Immediately a rooster crowed. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.

As we can see by these examples, the disciples were anything, but stellar, and most of us are not either.

An interesting meeting took place after the resurrection of Jesus; found in John 21:1-19

Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Tiberias. It happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.

He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”

“No,” they answered.

He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards.[b] When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.

Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.”

Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?”

“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”

Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me?”

He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”

The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

In this remarkable story, Jesus reaffirmed His love for Peter by His actions. He could have criticized Peter, ridiculed him, and said; “I told you so!”

Sitting by that fire, Peter experienced what I call blazing, majestic, overwhelming, relentless love, coming from the risen Christ!

The issue that Jesus was trying to bring to Peter’s attention was not that He (Jesus) loved Peter; that was now very evident. The question was; Peter, do you love Me?

Today, Jesus gently lifts your gaze, to meet Him, and asks you; “Do you love Me, more than these.”

What is your response?

Month: February 2019

Guilt Free

Forgiving From Your Heart

Burning UP – Or Burning OUT

Come Now, Let Us Reason Together

Do You Love Me?

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