Do You Love God? - Your Daily Forward Devotional

Do You Love God?

May 24

Read John 21:12-17 (ESV)

Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it them, and so with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 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 everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.”

Reflect

Why do you think Jesus repeated his question to Peter three times? What may have been the significance of that?

We know that Jesus said the greatest commandment is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37). But have you ever wondered what that means? How are we supposed to live that out practically speaking?

Well, John gives us a case study in loving Jesus as he details Peter’s story. Peter was passionate and outspoken about his love of Christ. In Matthew 16:15, Jesus asked his disciples, “who do you say that I am?” It was Peter, in his reply to Jesus, who first openly confessed that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). Peter also promised that he wouldn’t desert Jesus even if he had to die for him (Matthew 26:33,35). Plus, Peter was the only disciple to attempt to physically defend Jesus during His arrest. In John 18:10, we read that Peter drew his sword and struck the high priest’s servant, Malchus, cutting off his right ear and earning a rebuke from Jesus.

But passion wasn’t enough when push came to shove. Peter claimed that he would lay down his life for his Lord but Jesus warned him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times” (John 13:38). Of course, Jesus was right and Peter was wrong. Peter did deny being one of His disciples. Not once, not twice, but three times (John 18:15-18, 25-27). But Luke 22:62 records an important detail about Peter after he denied Jesus: “And he went out and wept bitterly.” Peter knew he had sinned against his Lord and he was filled with bitter remorse because of it.

In today’s verses, Jesus demonstrated that He forgave Peter and restored Peter to his original calling. Way back in John 1:40-42, Jesus had changed his name from Simon to Peter which means “rock” in Greek. Jesus was specifically commissioning Peter as a leader. But notice that in today’s verses, Jesus called him by his old name, Simon. In his commentary on John’s Gospel, John MacArthur noted that Jesus “sometimes referred to him as “Simon” when Peter did something that needed rebuke or correction (e.g., Matthew 17:25; Mark 14:37; Luke 22:31). It was as if our Lord called him by his former name when he was acting like his former self.”

Peter needed to be corrected and restored to leadership by Jesus in front of the other disciples. If not, the disciples would have good reason to doubt Peter’s true commitment to Christ and the legitimacy of his authority. They all knew that Peter had denied Jesus three times, they needed to know that he was still chosen by Christ as a leader among them. And I think Peter needed to hear it too.

So Jesus asked Peter to affirm his love three times. Each time Peter responded with yes and then was told to take care of Jesus’ sheep. Jesus drove home the point to Peter that truly loving Him meant faithful obedience to Christ and dedicated devotion to caring for His flock. Jesus was asking Peter to lead, to feed, to tend, to protect, to defend, and to never deny nor abandon Jesus’ followers—the church.

Peter’s heart broke because he knew that he had fallen short. He hadn’t lived up to his own claims about how much he loved the Lord. But he had repented, he was forgiven, and now he was being restored and recommissioned. He was given another chance. This time, no doubt, Peter would be a more humble leader who understood his need to fully depend on the Lord.

Friends, it’s easy to say that we love Jesus. But loving Jesus isn’t just a feeling. It is a commitment. Jesus called us to follow Him by taking up our cross and denying ourselves (Matthew 16:24-26). It is about putting our devotion to Christ above everything else in our lives and laying down our lives for Him. Like Peter, we will stumble. We will make mistakes. We won’t be able to fulfill what He is asking us to do in our own strength. But Christ is faithful!

Respond

Lord, I want to love You the way that You have called me to love You—with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. Please forgive me for my failures. Help me remain obedient and faithful to You always, no matter the cost. Amen.

Reveal: How does your “all in” love for Christ reveal Him to those around you?

~ Pastor Nat Crawford