A third time he asked him, “Simon
son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the question a third
time. He said, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Then feed my
sheep.
“I tell you the truth, when you were
young, you were able to do as you liked; you dressed yourself and went wherever
you wanted to go. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and
others will dress you and take you where you don’t want to go.” Jesus
said this to let him know by what kind of death he would glorify God. Then
Jesus told him, “Follow me.” John
21:17-19
Every Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I write about what I am
thankful for. More times than not it is
about a person such as my wife or mom. Other
times, I have thanked the people who read our team’s devotions and the
encouraging words you all offered me.
After hearing a sermon this past week, I am incredibly encouraged. Encouraged that God knows and loves us so
much. And of course, I am thankful for
that as well. But there is a group of
people who I am especially thankful for this year. They are the people who helped mold me into
the person I am today. Let us call them
people who poured into me all they could to make me who I am.
There were the teachers who saw something in me. There was the high school principal that knew
there was something worthwhile in me that I could not recognize. There was an owner who saw talent in my
abilities to lead others. And of course,
there were people in my current job role who built me up and encouraged me
throughout. This is not to say there
were not a slew of family members who supplied their love and knowledge onto
me. They did. But there are the ones who just saw me as
some kid from Detroit and had nothing to gain from helping me yet gave me so
much. I am so incredibly thankful for
them today. They poured into me without
any expectation of receiving anything.
God pours in to mold us into the person we become. I think of the story of Simon Peter. In a sermon, I was listening to how Jesus
chose to go into the boat of Peter, but we miss the part that Jesus had a
choice between two boats. In Luke 5, it
says:
One day as Jesus was preaching on the shore of the Sea of
Galilee, great crowds pressed in on him to listen to the word of
God. He noticed two empty boats at the
water’s edge, for the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. Stepping
into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon its owner, to push it out
into the water. So he sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there. Luke 5:1-3
He had to know Peter was the one who would help to spread
the Gospel, but much like we do not know God’s purpose for us, Peter did
not. Jesus saw something in Peter, and
poured out His wisdom, love, and knowledge to him as well as the other
Disciples. But note where we are in
today’s verses. It is Peter, the one who
denied Jesus three times yet loved Him more than the others, being asked three
times how much he loved Him. The reason
if we think it through is not because Jesus wanted to make sure Peter loved Him
because even Peter understood that He already knew that. The greater rationale led me to believe a
couple things. First, the purpose was to
humble Peter’s heart to focus on the task of minding the flock as Jesus was
soon to ascend to Heaven. Second, it was
to pour into Peter a high level of confidence to ‘feed the sheep’ and ‘follow
Him.’ Peter needed nothing more. We often will question why God has put us in
a situation. However, as Peter found our
question is not, “Why are you asking me this, Lord?” It is to ask, “How do I follow you, Lord?”
God knows us. We
often spend too much time questioning ourselves and choosing to see only the
ugliness that makes us who we are. We
simply forget that God knows everything about us, and no matter what ugliness
you see, He still chose you. On that
basis alone, there must be plenty good within us because God does not make
mistakes like that. Let us be thankful
for the love God pours out on us daily to see us grow into what He sees fit. Are you glad God sees something in you? How can you commit to follow Him closer
today? My prayer is that we are thankful
for all God and others have poured into us.
Amen, and hoping your Thanksgiving was wonderful and blessed!
