Barriers to love

Do you find it hard to accept Jesus' love? Peter did.

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Do you find it hard to accept Jesus' love? Peter did.
Although he was the first disciple to realise that Jesus was the Messiah, he
never truly loved Jesus until after the resurrection.
Maybe he felt unworthy. He was a fisherman, and Galilean fishermen were bad tempered, foul-mouthed, unkempt, vile, shabbily dressed, and swore a lot.
So, after the miraculous catch of fish, it's not surprising that he said to
Jesus, 'Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!' (Luke 5:8).
In the same way, when Jesus wanted to wash Peter's feet three years later,
he said: 'No. You shall never wash my feet.'
He didn't realise that Jesus' love was unconditional. And human reasoning
didn't help.
In Matthew 16, Peter tried to talk Jesus out of going to Jerusalem. But
Jesus rebuked him, saying (v22): 'You do not have in mind the concerns of
God, but merely human concerns.'
In the same way, Peter reacted from a human point of view when Jesus was arrested - he tried to protect him by chopping off a servant's ear. Then he ran away and denied Jesus. His lack of love was harshly exposed.
So, when Jesus took Peter aside on the shores of Lake Galilee (John 21), he just asked him if he loved him. He couldn't allow him to lead his church
unless he did.
Peter eventually said he had brotherly love for Jesus. It wasn't the
unconditional love that Jesus showed him, but it was enough for Jesus to
tell him to feed his flock.
Jesus will accept whatever you can offer him. But he wants each of us to
love him more.
What stops you from doing that? Ask him to help you. When he does, you'll become his lover as well as his disciple.

Cleland Thom
Cleland helps to run Freedom Church, a praying community based in the United
Kingdom.