Real Love

He calls his own sheep by name. (John 10:3)

The devotion today from Oswald (below) made me think of that song in Fiddler on the Roof “Do You Love Me?” between Golde and Tevya.

He wants to know if she loves him and her response is about all she has done for him. Tevye didn’t want to know what she had done for Him, he wanted to know how she FELT about him.

In many ways that mirrors how we often approach Christ. He wants us to love Him, and we think of all we have done for Him, which has no eternal value.

I, along with many of you I suspect, can slip into this quite easily. At some point even studying the bible and doctrine can replace this as well. It’s good to know the Word, what it says and means but the point isn’t to learn for knowledge sake, but to know how to use it in our own lives and in the lives of those around us who are on the wide path to destruction and the wrong side of eternity.

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Does He Know Me?
By Oswald Chambers

He calls his own sheep by name. — John 10:3

Does he know me when I have failed to know him (John 20:11–16)? When Mary Magdalene saw Jesus outside his tomb, she didn’t recognize him. But he knew her: “Jesus said to her, ‘Mary’” (v. 16). The instant Mary heard her name, she cried out, “Teacher!”

Why was Mary weeping outside Jesus’s tomb? Not because she knew about Jesus, but because she had a personal history with her Lord. It is possible to know all about doctrine and not know Jesus. The soul is in danger when intellectual learning outstrips intimate touch with him. Doctrine was nothing more to Mary than grass beneath her feet. Any Pharisee could have made a fool of her doctrinally, but none could ridicule away the fact that Jesus had cast seven demons out of her. And yet for Mary, Jesus’s blessings were nothing in comparison to himself.

Does he know me when I have stubbornly doubted (John 20:24–29)? Have I been doubting something about Jesus—an experience others testify to but which I haven’t had? The other disciples told Thomas that they’d seen Jesus, but Thomas doubted. “Unless I see . . . I will not believe” (v. 25). Thomas needed the personal touch of Jesus. When our Lord’s touch will come, or how it will come, we do not know. But when it does come, it’s indescribably precious. Jesus told Thomas, “Reach out your hand and put it into my side,” and Thomas replied, ‘My Lord and my God!’” (vv. 27–28).

Does he know me when I have selfishly denied him (John 21:15–17)? Peter had denied Jesus Christ three times, yet after the resurrection, Jesus appeared to Peter alone. He restored Peter in private, and then he restored him before the others. And Peter said, “Lord, you know that I love you” (v. 16).

Do I have a personal history with Jesus Christ? The one sign of discipleship is intimate connection with him, a knowledge of Jesus Christ that nothing can disturb.