[Anonim]

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord, he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” Jn 21:15

Many a bible study and many a sermon have been based on this verse, often focusing on how the Greek words “phileo” and “agape” both translate into the English word “love”, but have very different meanings. Instead, I want to focus on a less common word in the verse => “these”. What did Jesus mean by “do you truly love me more than these”? Was he referring to the fish they had just caught (fishing was Peter’s livelihood)? Was he referring to the other disciples? Or was he referring to something else?

Regardless of what “these” refers to, the message of Christ is this: do you love me more than anything else in your life? What is of utmost importance to you? Jesus should be the single most important person in our lives, and our love for Him should motivate our every thought, word and action.

What are the “these” in your life today? I would like to offer three possibilities:

1] SELF – many of us are focused first and foremost on ourselves, our priorities, our desires, our goals and ambitions, our pleasures. Do we love Jesus more than our SELF?

2] SIN – sin is our willful, conscious choice to leave God and go our own way. If we truly love Jesus more than anything, we should choose to follow Him, not turn away from Him. Do we truly love Jesus more than our SIN?

3] SAFETY/SECURITY – many of us are unwilling to take any sort of risk. We want to “play it safe”, plan for our future, be responsible, etc. Yet God calls us to trust Him completely, even when doing so defies logic or common sense, or requires us to take a risk. Do we truly love Jesus more than our own SECURITY? (I believe it was the great missionary Hudson Taylor who said he became a missionary in part because he could no longer stand to see his own countrymen “rejoicing in their own security”.)

Take a moment and reflect – what are the “these” in your life?

[Yazar]

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