Do You Love Me?

Let’s take a minute to walk in Peter’s shoes for a moment. It won’t be hard; I know you have felt so much of what Peter felt. On the night that Jesus was seized by soldiers and dragged away, Peter was sitting by the fire, when people began to look at him stating, “I saw you with Jesus!” But Peter was quick to deny his friendship with the Savior; “𝙈𝙖𝙣, 𝙄 𝙙𝙤 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩.” 𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮, 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙚 𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙤𝙤𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙘𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙙. 𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙇𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙩 𝙋𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙧. 𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙋𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙇𝙤𝙧𝙙, 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙞𝙢, “𝘽𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙤𝙤𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙘𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙨 𝙩𝙤𝙙𝙖𝙮, 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙮 𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙚𝙚 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙨.” 𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙚𝙥𝙩 𝙗𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙡𝙮.” Luke 22:60-62.

Can you picture Peter’s bitter weeping, how the cloak of shame must have enveloped him. Time and time again he would have asked himself, “𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘐 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘑𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘴!” Shame latching on, gripping his soul, reminding him of how unworthy he was.

Have you ever felt like that? When the shame of what you have done sticks to you like gum on the bottom of your shoe. Shame. Deceptive. Treacherous even. For years I carried shame with me, it kept me imprisoned in my past.

𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗚𝗼𝗱 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻! 𝗔 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗲𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲. This wasn’t the end of Peter’s story. A week after Jesus arose from the dead, Peter decided to go fishing again. History repeats itself and they caught nothing, as they came into shore, Jesus was standing on the beach. He shouted out, “𝙏𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙬 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙣𝙚𝙩 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙤𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚.” 𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙙𝙞𝙙, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙪𝙣𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙖𝙪𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙩 𝙞𝙣 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙧𝙜𝙚 𝙣𝙪𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝙛𝙞𝙨𝙝.” (John 21)

You won’t believe what happens next, 𝗝𝗲𝘀𝘂𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗳𝗮𝘀𝘁! I find this astounding, the risen King, glorious Savior, Jesus himself, made Peter breakfast. He didn’t confront Peter, compounding his guilt, asking him why he would betray him that way. No, He made him breakfast. He served him, he served the friend that had spoken badly of him and denied him. Honestly, not something I would think of doing.

After breakfast, Jesus asked Peter a question, and No – it wasn’t; “Peter, how could you do that?” or “Peter, do you know how disappointed I am in you?” Jesus said to him, “𝗣𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗿, 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗺𝗲?” Do you love me? Tears spring to my eyes, do you love me? Yes LORD, I do, oh how I love you!

Jesus responded by saying, “𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝘆 𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗲𝗽.” Join my mission. Expand my Kingdom. Become a leader of leaders. Take care of the children. Walk in your calling. Jesus knew Peter would be consumed by shame but didn’t beat him over the head instead He asked. “Do you love me?”

Peter walked away from shame that day and became one of the greatest leaders of all time, the one upon whom the church was founded. His decision that day was saying NO to shame.

Today I sense Jesus saying the same thing to you. “𝗗𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗺𝗲?” If your response is “Yes,” then walk away. Choose to walk away from shame and leave it behind and expand the Kingdom of God. Step into your calling. Allow the LORD to redeem your story and begin a new chapter, one that is free from shame. You can do it; I believe in you!