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| Photo By Renee Fisher |
Forgiveness:
A Good Place To Start!
By
Renee Fisher
Maybe you’re the one wrestling with
choices from the past. You’re in deep sorrow. Maybe you’re bitter. No matter
what the pain of the past, God offers His
hand.
Before His crucifixion, Jesus warned Peter
that he would one day deny Him. Peter was horrified at the idea. “No way!” he
said. “I’ll never deny You.”…but then he did. He denied that he had
ever known Jesus…three times.
Ouch. Never make a deal you can’t keep. Peter broke his word even after Jesus gave him a warning. How do you make sense
of that?
Fortunately, the story’s not over. I love what
happens later. After Jesus had risen from the dead He was eating and chilling
with His disciples. He took Peter aside during breakfast and asked him a tough
question. He said, “Do you love Me” (You can read the whole story in John 21:15-19).
Now, we unfortunately only have one word
for love in the English language. In Greek there are three words. The first is eros, which means romance or sexual
love. The second, phileo means a
brotherly love. It suggests deep affection, like you have for your closest
friends. Agape love is the strongest
of all. It can’t be earned but can only be freely given. It’s a love that comes
without expectations. This is the kind of love Christ showed for us when He
died on the cross.
When Jesus asked Peter if he loved him,
he was talking about agape--the
granddaddy of all love. Peter says, “Yes, Lord. You know that I love you.” Sounds pretty good and nice…but they’re not talking about the same thing. Jesus
is asking, “Do you agape me?” a nd Peter responds, “I phileo you.” He’s basically saying, “I
heart you, Friend.” That’s not what Jesus wants. It’s only phileo love. Jesus asks Peter again, “Do
you agape me?” “I phileo
you,” says Peter. Jesus asks one more time, but this time
he changes it up. “Peter do you phileo
me?” He says. “Do you heart me, Friend?” a nd Peter says, “Yes!”
I love how God knows how much we fail and
screw up miserably, and yet He sees us in our pain and meets us where we are. He wants and tries for the best in each one of us. He knows us personally
enough to know when we’re not giving our all, or when we’re not even capable of
loving. What a fantastic day of questions for Peter and Jesus. I’m sure they
both went away thinking, "Phew! That’s a
good place to start!"
~ Adapted from “Forgiving Others,
Forgiving Me.” © 2013 Harvest House Publishers. If you would like to know more
about how to forgive others as well as yourself, please feel free to check out
Renee Fisher’s new book on Amazon releasing August 1st.
Renee Fisher, the Devotional Diva®,
is the spirited speaker and author of Faithbook of Jesus, Not Another Dating
Book, Forgiving Others,
Forgiving Me, and Loves Me Not. A graduate of Biola
University, Renee’s mission in life is to “spur others forward” (Hebrews 10:24)
using the lessons learned from her own trials to encourage others in their walk
with God. She and her husband, Marc, live in California with their dog, Rock
Star. Learn more about Renee at www.devotionaldiva.com and her newest book at www.forgivingme.com. 