Chapter One
The Ultimate
Question
. and your answer is?
There are two words that you should never say to Jesus.
They are I quit!
But if you do, He will not ask you why. His question
will be far more personal. Far more penetrating.
We all know how awkward it is to be asked questions
that put us on the spot .
. Do you know why I pulled you over?
. Have you heard anything that I have said?
. Could you give me your PIN number, please?
. Do you know where your ball just landed?
. And just how do you intend to support my daughter?
But count on it, there will never be a more unsettling
question than the question Jesus wants to ask you. It's the
final question that Jesus asked Peter.
"Simon, son of John, do you love Me?"
And Christ didn't ask just once. He asked twice. And
then yet a third time. It was like driving a nail deep into
Peter's already wounded soul.
If my wife, Martie, looked deeply into my eyes-with
longing in her own and said, "Do you love me?"
My answer would be quick and predictable. "Of
course!"
But what if she refused to be satisfied with such a routine
reply? Suppose she asked yet again, with emotion
breaking her voice, "No, I really need to know, do you love
me?" And before I could get a grip on what was going on,
imagine her asking me a third time, with even more
urgency, "Joe . please . do you love me?"
I would know something deep was going on. It would
be clear to me that under her words, something big was
brewing. Something that needed my full attention.
That had to be how Peter felt as Jesus questioned him
in the early morning mist on the seashore, after an exhausting
-and completely fruitless-night of fishing.
Which is what makes Christ's interrogation of Peter
particularly disturbing. You're probably aware that Jesus
never asks questions because he doesn't know the answer. He
asks questions to make a point-to draw out the hidden,
inner issues of life, and to press us to readjust. Jesus was
probing Peter's heart in the face of his recent decision to turn
his back on the "people business" and return to his former
career of fishing. This was the career from which Jesus had
called him three short years earlier, recruiting him to a new
enterprise: giving his life for people. Or, as Jesus put it, fishing
for men!
Peter had bailed on Jesus, and Jesus took it personally
-as He always does when we say, "I quit!" Could it be
that Peter no longer loved his Lord? Or was he just totally
fogged out by a dismal sense of discouragement and failure?
Christ's call to focus Peter's life on the needs and nurture
of people is not an isolated moment in history. If you
call yourself a follower of Jesus, it is His call in your life as
well. His invitation to "follow Me" is always connected to a
daily commitment to touch lives for His sake-stepping
boldly and lovingly into the world of those we encounter
on a daily basis. You can't have one without the other.
When Jesus came to our planet, His life was always
about people. If, then, you are determined to follow Him,
don't be surprised that the adventure will lead you neck-deep
into the needs of people. And when you go off calling
as Peter did, He will want to know what happened to your
love for Him.
He will ask, "Do you love Me?"
If your answer is yes, Lord, you know that I love You-as
Peter answered-expect to hear Him say, "Then tend My
lambs!"
And by the way, His concern about our love for Him
and for the people He places in our lives is not an ethereal
"church thought" that has a nice ring to it. His question
presses us to focus our lives and resources on the passion
that is closest to His heart, the most valuable commodity
on this planet . people!
Which people? People who need the healing touch that
only our acts of love can give. People who will thrive on the
gift of our time and attention. People whose eternal destinies
lie in the balance-this very moment. People who
need to have their past mistakes canceled and their future
given back to them because we have forgiven them. People
who need a good word of comfort, whose lives are waiting
for someone who will really care. People who need space,
not suffocation; who need to be loved, not used; blessed,
not manipulated; prayed for and helped, not slandered.
People who need to be rescued from the snares of the evil
one. People who are distressed and harassed like sheep without
a shepherd.
Believe me, if you hang out with people there is no
shortage of opportunities to prove to Jesus how much you
love Him. People are everywhere. We are a needy bunch.
If only it were a little easier
* * *
Jan had worked across from an empty desk for weeks. Sally,
who had occupied that desk for years, had recently been
promoted to the executive floor.
Quite frankly, Jan was relieved.
When she had come to the job, she was looking forward
to making a few new friends. In close range at the
neighboring desk, Sally was an obvious prospect. She was
pretty, fun, and aggressively into office politics. It didn't
take long, however, to see that this was a woman determined
to move her career forward-at any cost. In short,
people were only important to her if they could help her on
her trajectory toward senior management.
Jan had no idea of the buzz saw she was walking into
as she ventured into what she assumed was a "Christ-like
relationship" with Sally.
When Sally spent too much time in the cafeteria,
schmoozing with the up-and-comers, Jan willingly picked
up her work. She covered for Sally when the boss called and
she wasn't at her desk. Jan did whatever she could to prove
to Sally that she was a trusted friend. They often went out
for dinner after work. Jan listened and gave whatever input
she could, as Sally would take most of the evening talking
about herself and her struggles with guys.
Jan was a new follower of Jesus. Soon after becoming a
Christian, she had learned that to authenticate her love and
relationship with her Lord, she needed to intentionally
climb out of her own world and become involved in the
lives of others. Sally, in her mind, was a prime opportunity
to do just that. In fact, Jan often prayed that her interest in
and support for Sally might lead Sally to become interested
in a relationship with Jesus.
Jan was good at what she did in the office. In fact it
wasn't long before the "powers that be" began to target her
for corporate advancement. The thought of this was too
much for Sally, and she began to look at Jan differently-as
a threat to her career dreams. After two years of building
their friendship, Jan overheard a conversation between Sally
and the boss that shocked her to the core. In a sad, reluctant
voice, Sally explained how much of Jan's work she'd
had to pick up and correct before it could be submitted.
Jan, Sally said, spent too much time with friends on the
phone, and when corrected for it would always have a few
choice comments about the weird way that upper management
ran the business.
None of it was true.
But Sally had been clever enough to work the system,
and it was Sally who got the promotion. Jan was stuck at
the same desk with a tarnished reputation.
In Jan's mind, this thing about loving Jesus by reaching
out to people hadn't worked out the way she thought it
would. As it turned out, people weren't simply needy, they
were dangerous. She had been used, hurt, and discarded.
Deeply discouraged-not only with people, but with Jesus
who had asked her to get sacrificially involved with others-Jan
was now determined to take life into her own hands. She
would manage whomever landed at Sally's desk in a way that
would guarantee her own safety and personal advance in the
corporation.
Jan's heart was no longer ready to reach out for Jesus'
sake. She had learned her lesson the hard way. It was now
time for her to get on the corporate train and make something
of her life. She would play everything close to her
vest, and keep everything on a professional level aimed at
her own best interest. Life was too short, she told herself,
and she didn't need the grief of another people disaster in
her life.
It wasn't that she was ready to totally deny Jesus. She
still gladly attended her weekly small group meetings, worshiped
with enthusiasm on Sunday, and took copious notes
as the pastor shared his heart. It's just that Jan had become
a little more savvy in the marketplace. Jesus would just have
to understand that. His way didn't really work at the office.
She even wondered if perhaps the world of two thousand
years ago was nicer than "office world," and that if Jesus
were here today He too might revise some of His thoughts
about the place and importance of people.
So, when Heather replaced Sally at the nearby desk, Jan
was ready.
Heather was pleasant, easy to be around, and openly
friendly to Jan. It crossed Jan's mind that Sally was like that
in the beginning as well. What Jan didn't know was that
Heather was close to a transition point in life. She had
recently been deeply impressed by the unconditional love
and concern of a couple of Christian friends. When
Heather heard through the office grapevine that Jan was a
Christian, she was secretly pleased. She was anxious to
experience another relationship that would bless her with
the selfless love she had experienced from her other friends.
In fact, Heather had often thought (though she didn't let on
to her friends) that Jesus was becoming increasingly attractive
to her. She was drawn by their talk of His sacrificial and
forgiving love. She had experienced it from them, and knew
deep down how much she needed to be forgiven.
Warmly and expectantly, Heather made attempts to
get to know Jan. She would ask, "Could we go on break
together? Or how about lunch?" But Jan made sure that she
was always busy. Conversations were polite, but Jan's brief
answers guaranteed that they didn't get much traction.
Jan felt good about the distance.
Jan had no clue.
Countless followers of Jesus, like Jan, have "had it" with
people.
-Wives jilted by faithless husbands.
-Men embittered by game-playing women.
-Children deeply disappointed by parents.
-Parents stinging from rejection by their own children.
-Customers cheated by fellow Christians in the business
world.
-Teenage girls sexually molested by an abusive dad-who
also happened to be an elder in the church.
-People tired of dead-end, nonreciprocal, one-way relationships.
-Wounded people who have been betrayed by a friend.
-People who find life easier to manage when lived on
their own terms.
-People who have found that most people are nice, but
not necessary.
The list goes on. At one time or another, all of us have
found our fellow human beings to be disappointing and
discouraging. Most of us feel like "amening" the philosopher
who wrote, "The more I get to know people, the more
I like my dog!"
So . forgetting that our purpose in life is to prove our
love to Jesus by staying involved in the lives of others for
their good (even if it costs us something), we tend to do
what Peter did . bail on Jesus and recoil into the tidy comfort
of life on our own terms.
(Continues.)
