The other day when Santy and I were visiting our grandchildren, our daughter asked one of them, “How much do you love Kung-Kung?”  He right away answered, “Five hundred!”  When asked how much he loves Pho-Pho, he also replied, “Five hundred!”  When asked how many teeth he had, he responded, “Five.”  At the age of 4, he associates “much” with 500 and “few” with 5.  Am I glad that Santy and I earned high points!  I hope it will stay the same . . . forever!

Children—and for that matter we all—can only express love to the best of our ability to express it.  The same goes with our love for God; we can only express it to the best of our ability to express it. It is therefore fitting that God does not require us to show love for Him in ways that only actors can.  He knows our limitations and uniqueness; He knows our hearts more than anybody can.

Before He ascended into Heaven, Jesus took the time to restore Peter.  From the day Peter denied knowing Jesus to that day at the lake, they had never sat down and talk one on one.  Instead of interrogating Peter for his failure, Jesus only asked him a simple question, “Do you love Me?” three times.  And every time Peter responded affirmatively, Jesus asked him to feed and take care of His sheep.  That’s all.  He knew that Peter loved Him even though Peter could only say, “You know that I love you” (John 21:15-17). 

Perhaps we share similarity with Peter; we cannot express our love for Jesus eloquently.  Maybe we wish we could sing and pray like so and so; or perhaps we could teach the Bible like our friends.  Do not worry about it; Jesus knows. We need not prove our love for Him in ways that we do not know how.  Go ahead and show it to Him in ways that we know how; tell Him that we love Him, “Five hundred.”

Pastor Paul