“. . . Do you love me?”

John 21:16

Have you ever wondered how God felt about you? Life becomes complicated. Pressures mount. Problems arise. Life closes in on us and we begin to question God’s intentions. Then the question arises, “What did I do to deserve all this?”

If such questions arise in your heart, you might want to check your perspective on your relationship with God.

Such a question is rooted in the assumption that God should give us what we deserve. We assume all good people go to heaven. We expect God to be ready to bless anytime we ask in prayer for our latest needs. While we know we are not perfect, we assume God is so loving that He will overlook our deficiencies and love us anyway. After all, God is a loving God, isn’t He?

The unspoken foundation for this assumption is that we believe all creation is centered on us. We should be the center of attention. We should be the one being blessed. We should be the one that decides what is best and what pleases the most.

With this reference point, we have reversed roles established before the beginning of creation. Originally, God was to be the focus and we were meant to be caretakers of His creation for Him. Now, we see ourselves as the focus and God is the benevolent servant waiting to fulfill our every desire.

It is true that God has met our needs beyond all measure! In sending Jesus to pay for our sins and failures, God has offered to solve the greatest problem we will ever face. Not only has He offered to forgive us, He has invited us to be adopted by Him. Additionally, He is preparing an eternal place with Him so that we can be with Him forever.

The question is, “What response is the Lord expecting from us?”

Peter was a disciple that had followed Jesus faithfully for three years. The problem is that Peter denied He ever knew Jesus when trouble arose. Because of his failure, Peter felt distanced from Jesus. Even though Jesus had risen from the grave and revealed Himself to the disciples, Peter could not find peace about his relationship with the Lord.

So, this question, “Do you love me?” is asked, not by Peter, of Jesus, but by Jesus of Peter. Three times the Lord will ask this question. Three times Peter gives some level of affirmation. Three times the Lord will respond with a request for Peter to do something for Jesus. “Feed my lambs.” “Tend my sheep.” “Feed my sheep.”

It seems the role was reversed of what we would expect. Peter was not asked by the Lord what he needed to become happy again. Instead, the Lord was telling Peter what Jesus needed from him.

In this request, the focus of heaven is revealed. Heaven will be a focus on a victorious Savior who has overcome the inequities of a fallen world and has delivered the saints to a place where there is no darkness, no tears, no pain, and no sorrow. And those who enjoy this experience will see nothing else they will need except to honor and praise the One who made this eternal blessing a reality.

If you knew how much the Lord loves you, no doubt would ever enter your mind about His feelings for you. It may be that life isn’t perfect, but it will all be resolved in the future. The one thing that might change is that we join Peter in moving on to glorify the Lord. When our whine becomes praise and our selfishness becomes service is when the Lord will have no doubt about His relationship with us.

Dr. John A. Temple is pastor of Poplar Springs Drive Baptist Church, 4032 Poplar Springs Drive, Meridian. Visit the church website at www.psdbc.org.