"Lovest thou Me?"

This was the question that popped into my head early this morning. I was at once reminded of the incident of Jesus reinstating Peter in John 21: 15-17. There, Jesus addressed this personal and searching question to the apostle Peter - not once, not twice, but three times. And this was the question, it seems, that Jesus was asking me ...

And as i pondered over this passage, i saw a pattern develop: "Do you truly love Me?" ... "Feed My lambs" ....... "Do you truly love Me?" ... "Take care of My sheep" ....... "Do you love Me?" ... "Feed My sheep".

What God reminded me was that our love for Christ should be the basis of all of our service unto Him. Our love for God must be the mainspring of our labors for Him. (Note: It was only when Peter confirmed his love for Him that Jesus gave Peter the command to feed His lambs - which seems to convey, to me at least, that loving God precedes serving Him / true service for God is a natural outflow of our love for Him.) It is pointless, even futile, for us to serve our Lord without having a genuine love for Him. One cannout genuinely serve God without first loving Him. Our love for Christ must be the foundation for our service unto Him. Anything else would probably be service out of a sense of duty - and would become a drudgery. Any motivation, other than the one stemming from a love relationship with Christ, will amount to nothing. And without the foundation of love for Christ, i doubt that there will be any patient endurance in our service to God. Oh, how we need this love to be prevalent in our lives. It is this love for God that motivates, that compels, that energizes.

How much do we love God today? Let the question that Jesus posed to Peter many years ago be pressed upon our very hearts today: "Do you love Me?" Let this question search the deepest recesses of our hearts and draw out a response from us - "Do we truly love Christ?" - this is the key question we need to ask ourselves every now and then. What is our love of our Savior like? Is it red-hot? Is it lukewarm? Only we (and God) know the answer. Whatever it is, let's seek to love Him even more fully.

As i let this searching question sink deeper into my heart, i found myself crying out to God, asking Him to help me love Him more fully, more sincerely - and that my love for Him will always be genuine and true. Indeed, as it says in 1 John 4: 19, "we love because He first loved us." I want to be serving God not out of obligation or a mere sense of duty; but out of a genuine heart of affection and love for Him. Oh, how i need God to help me love Him more!!! My sincere prayer is to really know and love God much more than ever before - and to ensure that all that i do (i.e. serving in ministry, etc) always stem from a genuine heart of love for my Lord and Savior.

In closing, i shall endeavour to use the now famous 'resolutions' by Jonathan Edwards - albeit with my own resolution .... and may it be a motivation for us all too:

Resolved: To love God more - and let this love be the foundation of my service unto Him and His people. :)