Do you love Me?

 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.... Jesus said, "Feed my sheep." John 21:17

I have always seen this encounter that Peter had with the Lord as Jesus' way of reaching out to Peter at his lowest level to restore him. A few days before this meeting, Peter denied knowing Jesus three times before he realized that he was "betraying" his Master. It was made worst as he had boldly declared that he would even die for Jesus.

The resurrected Lord asked Peter three times if he loved Him. Peter's three renewed declaration, "Yes Lord, You know that I love You" erased his three denials. Peter was restored.

I recently learned that more than just helping Peter to restore his true love and confidence, the Lord wanted Peter (and us) to declare and mean that if we truly loved Him, then we must identify our self with His interest and hence He said, "Feed my sheep."

How often in our prayers do we ask for Him to bless us, lead us, reward us, protect us .... aren't we simply insisting that He identify His interest with our self-centered desires? And even when we are praying for others, we often pray according to our knowledge and assumptions.

Oswald Chambers said, "The duty of a faithful missionary is to concentrate on keeping his soul completely and continually open to the nature of the Lord Jesus Christ."

Wow, what a difference?

So I am learning to pray, "Lord, what is it that you want me to pray for and what is it that you want me to do for you?" This is my interpretation of the Lord's prayer (Matthew 6:8-10).. "your will be done."

God bless.

Steven