In John 21:16 the Lord is asking Peter, “Do you truly love me?” And here is Peter’s answer,”Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Now the Lord is giving Peter a job to do;  Peter is receiving some instructions. Here they are, “TAKE CARE OF MY SHEEP.”

“We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

Isaiah 53:6

At the present time the Lord is blessing me through the reading of sermons by the German pastor W. Busch.  I have mentioned this servant of the Lord several times already. He says also that the question “Do you truly love me?” is very difficult to answer. What is your answer? What is my answer?

I struggled to find an answer to that question some time ago. I asked myself, “Can I really answer from the bottom of my heart with Peter, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

In his sermon pastor Busch says that the question: “Do you truly love me?” is indeed very difficult to answer. That’s, when the Lord asked him urgently that question, he answered like this, “I realise now, that it means to be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ is, to have a burning heart for the Saviour. But my heart is dead, cold and burned out and tired. What shall I do?”

What is the answer?

He answers the question with a true little story:

In the 18th century there lived in the German town of  Wuppertal a man called Peter Diederichs, a seller of leather. That man knew a lot about pastoral care.

One day a young man came to him and said,  “When Jesus asks me: Do you love me? I don’t really want to tell him that my heart is cold.” Peter Diederichs answered, ” Friend, turn the question around, ask the Saviour:  Do you love me?”

For a moment it was very quiet. But all of a sudden the face of the young man lit up with joy. He realised the  love of the Saviour for him.  And his heart became warm. The love in the Saviours heart ignited the love in his heart.

This has helped me a lot. I hope it helps you too!

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