“Do you love me? …Feed my sheep.” John 21:17
Picking up an instrument to lead others in worship can be a wonderful expression of your love for Christ. So can cutting out colored shapes for a children’s Sunday school class or getting in the car to visit a person in need. All these are different ways of feeding God’s sheep.
Christ knew you before you were born, and He loved you before the world began. You are loved with an everlasting love. But imagine Him looking down and saying, “I love all these people. I really do,” but then remaining in heaven. How would it be with you, if the love of Christ remained in His heart? You would be wonderfully loved and eternally lost.
Now think about the awesome ministry that flowed from Christ’s love: He takes human form, is born into the world, and pours out His life in ministry to others. He experiences rejection and absorbs the pain. Then, after giving His all in ministry, everything seems to be stripped away from Him, and it seems that God is doing it. He even loses the experience of intimacy with the Father that He has always known. But still He gives Himself to do the will of the Father.
Love caused Jesus to launch out into a ministry that has changed your eternity. Now He says, “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you. Do you love me? Feed my sheep.” Intimacy with Christ produces activity for Christ.
How can you say, “I love you” to Jesus today? This week?
