No Shame in Love
How good are you at receiving forgiveness?
Verse of the Day
“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.””
Today’s Devotional
Have you ever just really screwed up? Tail between your legs, want to hide in a closet, wonder if it’s fixable kind of mistake?
Peter knew what that was like. The Scripture above is part of Peter’s first recorded one-on-one conversation with Jesus after Peter denied knowing Jesus three times. So it’s after the resurrection, after Jesus appears to the disciples a couple of times.
Imagine that you’re at a dinner with a group of people. And then someone unexpected shows up. And this unexpected guest is someone that you REALLY let down recently…how would you feel when this person arrives? I would want to hide. I would be embarrassed. I probably would not know what to say. These are all reactions that are based in shame.
So instead of letting Peter continue to hide in his shame, Jesus seeks him out. He turns to him and asks “Do you love me?”
Jesus doesn’t bring up the denials. He doesn’t cast blame. He doesn’t reprimand. Jesus asks a series of questions that remind Peter of his love for his Savior. Not only that, Jesus speaks purpose into Peter’s life. Jesus tells Peter to care for the other believers. Basically, in my opinion, Jesus is telling Peter to become a minister, feeding and caring for “His sheep”.
This is such a beautiful picture of how Jesus handles our mistakes. He doesn’t shame us. He doesn’t even want to talk about the mistakes. He wants to remind us that we love Him, and redirect us back to our purpose. Love God, love others. He reminds us that we really do love God, and He restates our call to love others. Because I can’t love God or others (or myself) from a place of shame.
Jesus doesn’t even bring up the mistakes. Do you? Do you replay them in your mind and beat yourself up? If so, remind yourself that THERE IS NO CONDEMNATION FOR THOSE WHO ARE IN CHRIST JESUS.
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
Spend some time today thanking Jesus for the beautiful way that He handles our mistakes.
Ask Him for a fresh revelation of how you can love Him more, and how specifically you can love others well today.
When someone sins against you, do you follow the example of Jesus, or do you want the offense to be acknowledged and forgiveness to be earned by the offender?
Ask God to teach you how to forgive like Jesus does. And then read Matthew 6:14.