July Encouragement 2023
Jesus said unto him, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." [Matthew 22:37 KJV] Can we truly follow God without first obeying these words of Jesus? We can't do it with head knowledge. No. That would be, "Thou shalt KNOW the Lord thy God with all thy head, and with all thy brains, and with all thy mind." Right? Many of us walk headlong with Jesus just this way, every day…wobbling along. Now Jesus does say to "love the Lord thy God with all your mind", but Jesus goes straight for the heart first, you see. Do you remember this encounter with Peter: 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 all things; You know that I love You." Jesus said to him, "Tend My sheep." [John 21:17 NASB95] Okay, so why is this encounter and why are Jesus' words so important to Peter at this time? Jesus is going to tell Peter about his future because the next thing He says to Peter is this, "Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish to [go.]" Now this He said, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, "Follow Me!" [John 21:18-19 NASB95] Now, if we remember, in Matthew 4, Jesus said to Peter and Andrew, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." [Matthew 4:19 NASB95] I believe Jesus is asking Peter to follow Him again here to confirm that the "fisher of men" would now take the next step and be the "feeder of men." He also let him know that the consequences of following Jesus would be deadly. Jesus was reaffirming to Peter that love couldn't be expressed as a half measure. He had to be all in and love God with all his heart.
Wow! Now that'll wake you up from a night fishing on the lake with the boys...
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