LOVE, What and Why

Jesus asked a question, that I’m pretty sure every wife frequently asks her husband, “Do you love Me?” But the question Jesus asked of Peter was not the same as the similar sounding question that wives ask their husbands. The kind of ‘love’ that Jesus was asking of His disciple was extremely odd. And while many a sermon down through the centuries has claimed that Peter’s answer to the Christ was not satisfactory, I think they may have missed the point of this profound exchange between the Saviour and one of His servants. It is from this exchange that we are gifted one of the greatest insights into what love really is and why it requires something in particular.

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.”
John 21:16

FINISHING BEFORE YOU FINISH

Finishing is quite different to ending. Novelists have the privilege of finishing their literary creations before they write those two delightful words, The End. Life, however, doesn’t always afford the same privilege. Too many lives end rather than finish. But the apostle Paul was among the privileged few. He last epistle was written to Timothy in which he could confidently state, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (Second Timothy 4:7). Although Paul’s life had a brutal ending, his life didn’t end — it finished. Moses, on the other hand finished before he finished. 

FOR THE LOVE OF PETE!

home > Pastor’s Desk > For The Love of Pete! FOR THE LOVE OF PETE! How many chances should you give someone who continually let you down! I think John Mark might think the Apostle Paul would say “One!” Some of us might be a bit more forgiving...

FORBEARANCE

FORBEARANCEForbearance has nothing to do with with your forebears (although, come to think of it, it might). Forbearance has to do with patiently bearing disappointment with others. It is most commonly called for when we have occasion to be disappointed with someone...