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¿A quién amas?  Who do you love?

3/17/2017

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​En una ocasión después de su resurrección, Jesús le preguntó a Pedro si lo amaba. Cada vez que leo Juan 21, me impacta… o sea, le preguntó tres veces... en frente de sus amigos... qué pena.

Soy hombre... un tanto más incomunicativo que otros. No expreso bien mis sentimientos… menos en grupo. ¿Por qué se lo hizo Jesús? Espero que a mí no me lo haga nunca.

La respuesta de Pedro fue, "tú sabes que te amo"... las tres veces. Jesús, quien es Dios, le contestó con, "alimenta mis ovejas", que antes de pensar en lo que Jesús le estaba pidiendo, demuestra que Jesús aceptó su respuesta. Sabía que Pedro decía la verdad.

Yo en su lugar, hubiera contestado igual como Pedro. Solo que, probablemente, la respuesta de Jesús hubiera sido, ¡mentiroso! ¿Ya ves por qué no me gusta expresar mis sentimientos en público?

Un teólogo respetado define el amor a sí mismo sencillamente como: "el amor que le tiene el hombre a su propia felicidad."

¡Cómo nos mete en problemas eso!

Torcemos la palabra "felicidad" tanto que se parece más a un pueblo destrozado al paso de un huracán. Nos aferramos a lo que queremos y no nos importa lo que opine Dios. De hecho, aun creemos que Dios cree que vamos bien. Si estamos felices, entonces Dios está felíz, ¿no? Algunos están tan encantados con su propia felicidad que, a menos que imprima sus nombres aquí, leerán este devocional y pensarán en aquellos conocidos suyos que lo necesiten.

Si de verdad amamos a Jesús, otros nos creerán cuando se lo decimos. Querremos lo que Jesús quiera. Haremos lo que él nos diga. Nuestra felicidad personal comenzará a parecerse a la perfecta voluntad de Dios.

“...El que me ama, mi palabra guardará;...” (Juan 14:23)
​On one occasion after his resurrection, Jesus asked Peter if he loved him. Every time I read about that in John 21, it impacts me. I mean, he asked him three times... in front of his friends... how embarrassing.

I am a guy... a rather incommunicative one at that. I don't express my feelings well… especially in a group. Why would Jesus do that to him? I hope he never does it to me.

Peter's answer all three times was basically, "you know I love you". Jesus, who is God, answered him with, "feed my sheep", which before thinking about what he is asking Peter to do, shows that Jesus accepted his answer. He knew that Peter was telling the truth.

If it had been me, I would have answered the same way that Peter did. And Jesus' response would more likely have been, "liar!" There... see why I don't like expressing my feelings in public?

One respected theologian defines self-love as simply: "a man's love of his own happiness."

Boy, does that get us in trouble.

We twist the word "happiness" into something that looks more like a trailer park hit by a tornado. We latch on to what we know we want and it doesn't matter what God thinks. In fact, we still think that God thinks that we are doing just fine. If we are happy then God is happy, right? Some people are so caught up in their own personal happiness that, unless I print their names here, they will read this devotional and just think about other people they know who need it.

If we truly love Jesus, others will believe us when we say we do. We will want what Jesus wants. We will do what he tells us. Our personal happiness will start to look like the perfect will of God.

“If anyone loves me, he will keep my word,…”  Jn 14:23


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    Greg Smith

    Greg grew up in Menomonee Falls, WI. His ministry began in 1976: 5 years in Central America, 36 in Mexico. His passion is church planting and discipleship.
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    Greg enjoys being married to Carol Ahola-Smith. Both have been missionaries (Japan and Mexico); both watched their first spouses precede them in death.
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    Together, they have a heart for writing, mentoring and teaching.  They enjoy long walks and good coffee.

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