Do You Love Me?

"When they had finished eating Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?" "Yes, Lord," he said, "you know I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my lambs." Again Jesus said, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep." The 3rd time he said to him," Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him a 3rd time, " Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my sheep." -John 21:15-17

Wow! I have been challenged by those verses these past couple of days by a little girl at work. Yesterday, randomly, she asked me if I loved her. Strangely, I have to stop and think about it but that was because she has a speech problem. Today was busy and I was in a hurry and talked to her in a firm way and I guess it scared her because she asked again, "Do you love me?" and I said, "Yes." and then explained what I wanted her to do and why she should do it or not do it. We get like that with God a lot in our lives. We keep saying we love the Lord but do we ask what he asks us to do? Do we feed His lambs and sheep? Do we bless other people or hurt them? Do we really love (aka know) as a Savior and have a real relationship with Him or have we just heard about Him? If we have heard about Him then, yeah, there is no need to go tell the world. Do we stop and do what we want first before we follow Jesus? Do we stop and think no this way is good for me not the other way? Even sit and ponder for awhile in a spot where we are not happy at all. If we know and Love Him and have seen Him work in our lives then why are we hiding it from the world? Notice Jesus asked Peter 3 times if he loved Him. Before the death on the cross, Peter said he didn't know Jesus. Sometimes I wonder was Peter really telling the truth? Yeah, he was a follower but did he know Jesus like we should or just followed Him? After Peter saw everything come to life and happened like Jesus said it would, do you think Peter had a lot more faith in who He really was and believed what He could do? Do you think Peter fell in love with Jesus so much that he wanted to know Him more and spend that time with Jesus' people (sheep and lambs)? All this from a child at work. No wonder the devil is fighting against God with me but he won't win. I'm not giving up on anything because it will only draw me close to the One and Only. I hope this gets the point across. I'm kind of in a hurry because it is late.