Lord, You Know Everything; You Know that I Love You

 


I first encountered this verse on one of my walks in early May, and even though I knew it held meaning for me, I was not quite sure what it was yet. I started this blog post and let it sit for a couple months. This morning, I have finally come to a realization of why this verse is so important in my life.

I have always been in the habit of ending a phone call to my family with "I love you" before hanging up the phone. It occurred to me a while back that if I make sure to tell my family that I love them after talking to them, then why wouldn't I tell God the same? Since then, I have made a point of ending my conversations with God by thanking Him for loving me and my family and responding with "I love you, too." (As a side note, a long time ago, I had this idea of the most important/powerful things you can say to another person. The second most important is "I love you," but the most important is "I love you, too," because the word "too" acknowledges that, not only do you love the other person, but you also accept the love they have for you.)

I have also spent a lot of time in recent months asking God to help me to listen. I do a lot of talking (I always have), and I know that I need to do a lot more listening, and as I have read this verse several times, I understand that it is all about listening. I finally realized the other morning the significance of the last sentence in the verse. It feels like Peter actually became a little agitated that Jesus had asked three times whether Peter loved him, and Peter replied that "You know I love you." The point finally hit home for me that Jesus didn't just keep asking, but he also kept telling Peter how to show that he loved Jesus: "Feed my sheep."

In my own life, I have been kind of like Peter in the past several months. I keep telling God that I love him, but I have missed the point that it has to be more than just words. I have to get out and SHOW that I love God. I need to look around and listen to go about the work of helping feed God's sheep, especially the lost sheep.

Heavenly Father, I'm sorry that I haven't done as much as I should to show the world that I love you. I admit that I have been so concerned about myself that I have not been doing my part to feed your sheep. Help me see the opportunities before me and help me act on those opportunities to reflect your light into the world. Thank you for loving me. I love you, too. In the loving name of Jesus I pray, Amen.

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