Beverly Cook
Jesus never directly asked me, “Do you love me?”
In John 21, we read that the resurrected Lord asked Peter that question three times. Peter answered in the affirmative all three times. Jesus replied, “Feed my sheep”. Jesus was impressing upon Peter that if he loved him he must follow and glorify the Father.
So, what does it mean to love Jesus? When I was a child, I sang “Jesus Loves Me This I Know, “ and when a little older I sang, “Oh How I Love Jesus”. As time went on, I drifted away from singing in church. Still, while I was away from worship and service to the Lord, if Jesus had appeared and directly asked me if I loved him, I would have replied in the affirmative as Peter did. When I returned to the church, I began to spontaneously love Jesus in a new way. The people were living out their love for Jesus. As I read the Bible and began to serve in the body of Christ, I entered into a personal relationship with my Lord and Savior.
What wondrous Love! What a joy to follow, to serve and to obey Jesus.
John, the “disciple whom Jesus loved,” gave us a declaration of God’s love in 1 John 4: 7-21. “God’s love was revealed among us in this way, God sent his only Son into the world that we might live through him”. I love Jesus because he first loved me. Jesus gave us the gift of the Spirit. The Spirit places the love for Jesus in our hearts.
What wondrous Love! What a joy to follow, to serve and to obey Jesus. Jesus gave us the gift of the Spirit. The Spirit places the love for Jesus in our hearts.
Oh, how I love Jesus.
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Kathryn Lindsay
Then God started tugging on my heart. There was a church sermon series that was about taking your God-given dream off the shelf. I was like, “I don’t know what my dream is. God, if you have a dream for me you’re going to have to tell me what it is.”