Feed my sheep
Jesus restores Peter by the fire
By a charcoal fire that must have stirred memories of another fire and another denial, Jesus asks Peter the same question three times: do you love me? Three denials, three askings, a wound being healed by being reopened. And each time Peter affirms his love, Jesus gives him not a feeling to nurse but a task to do: feed my lambs. Tend my sheep. Feed my sheep.
Notice how Jesus measures love. He does not ask Peter to prove his devotion with grand emotion or solitary worship. He ties love for the shepherd directly to care for the sheep. If you love me, the logic runs, then feed the ones I love. For a leader, this is searching. Affection for the cause, the mission, even for God, is tested at the point of patient, practical care for actual people. Love that will not feed the sheep is not yet the love Jesus is asking for.
“Let's not love in word only, or with the tongue only, but in deed and truth.”
— John, on love proven — 1 John 3:18 (WEB)
Love for the cause, the mission, even for God, is proven at the point of patient, practical care for actual people. Love that will not feed the sheep is not yet real.
“Jesus said to him, Feed my sheep.”
Jesus tied Peter’s love for him to the feeding of his sheep. A leader formed here lets his devotion be tested and expressed in concrete care, not just sentiment. The inner work is love that shows up as feeding, not merely feeling.
Express your love for the mission through tangible care for the people in it. Measure devotion by whether the sheep are actually fed, not by how strongly you feel. Let practical, patient care be the proof of what you claim to love.
Leaders profess love for God or the cause while neglecting the people it touches. The blind spot is treating affection as proven by feeling rather than by care for the sheep.
Name one person in your charge whose care you have neglected while busy with the mission. This week, feed that sheep in one concrete way.
We imagine we can love God, or a mission, while quietly neglecting the people in our charge. Jesus ties the two together: love for the shepherd is proven by care for the sheep.
If your love is measured by your care for the people entrusted to you, what does your care actually reveal about your love?