Our devotional thought comes from John 21:17: “He said to him the third time, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me?’ Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’ and he said to him, ‘Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my sheep.'”
The lakeside was quiet that morning. The smell of fish and burning embers lingered in the air. Three times the question came. Three times to heal three denials. “Do you love me?”
How quickly we answer, “Yes, Lord, I love you.” The words tumble from our lips like casual greetings. We sing it in our worship. We declare it in our prayers. We wear it on our t-shirts.
But Jesus wasn’t satisfied with Peter’s words alone, was He?
“Feed my sheep.”
It’s as if Jesus is saying, “Don’t tell me you love me, Peter. Show me.”
Love, in Jesus’ vocabulary, is never merely a sentiment. It’s always a verb. It has hands that serve and feet that move and arms that embrace.
How many of us have mastered the language of love without learning its actions? We’ve become fluent in “Lord, I love you” while remaining strangers to the hungry, the hurting, the lost sheep He’s placed in our path.
Today, Jesus asks us the same haunting question. Not to shame us, but to shape us. And when we answer, He doesn’t just nod and smile. He points to His sheep—the difficult coworker, the lonely neighbor, the struggling family member—and says, “Show me.”
Words matter. But love that feeds is what changes the world.
I’m Lonnie Davis and these are thoughts worth thinking.