DO YOU LOVE ME?

You recall Jesus asking Peter, Do you love me? Peter thought he did until it came down to the tough stuff. Who was it that had the nerve to rebuke Jesus? And why? It was, of course, Peter when Jesus told how he would suffer death. Suffering wasn't a part of Peter's vision.

Suffering isn't a part of the vision of many in the church either. Therefore, I encourage you to let such a concept begin to take over more of your heart. Why? Because if you do not love Jesus and his church, you will do as Peter....deny you know him, deny you ever met him, deny you had anything to do with him....and then flee. You'll run away from the church.

What I admire about the present day church is it is built with stones---generation stacked upon generation---which are committed to hangeth in there 'til Jesus wraps up all of life in his grand re-entrance. Just as Paul found he had to separate from his colleague because they didn't agree, neither of them left the church. They found ways to keep serving God while momentarily detached. We may serve down different lanes for the time being, but we must remain committed to the Christ in the most stressful of situations.

Even in the center of hurt feelings, our nature is what? Keep trying. Jesus wouldn't quit. He died in the process only to let the Father turn that moment into the biggest story ever to come out of Jerusalem! Yours is a continuation of his story. You are important. Don't forget that if you have to suffer and struggle over anything in life....let it be something as magnitudinal as loving the body of Christ.

Do you love me?, we asked of one another. Oh yes. And we won't stop.