pass it on
By Johnny Angel
When I was a child, I cried every time we sang the song "Pass It On".
I still get very touched by this song. It compares God's love to the
wonderful things He has made in creation and calls for us to pass on
this love. Within the past few months, God has been speaking to me
how important love is. We need to work on having unconditional love.
In John 21 we find Jesus asking Peter "Do you love me?" In the
original Greek, this passage has more to say than just "Do you love
me?" Consider this passage (John 21:15-17) taken from "The
Amplified Bible":
15 When they had eaten, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of
John, do you love me [with reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion, as
one loves the Father]? He said to Him, Yes, Lord, You know that I
love You [that I have deep, instinctive, personal affection for You, as a
close friend]. He said to him, Feed My lambs.
16 Again He said to him the second time, Simon, son of John, do you
love Me [with reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion, as one loves the
Father]? He said to Him, Yes, Lord, You know that I love You [that I
have a deep, instinctive, personal affection for You, as for a close
friend]. He said to him, Shepherd (tend) My sheep.
17 He said to him the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love Me
[with a deep, instinctive, personal affection for Me, as for a close
friend]? Peter was grieved (was saddened and hurt) that He should
ask him the third time, Do you love Me? And he said to Him, Lord, you
know everything; You know that I love You [that I have a deep,
instinctive, personal affection for You, as for a close friend]. Jesus said
to him, Feed My sheep.
Notice that in verses 15 and 16, Jesus was aiming for love with
reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion, as one loves the Father. Both
times Peter replied that he loved Jesus with a deep, instinctive,
personal affection for Jesus, as for a close friend. In verse 17, Jesus
accepts that Peter will only give the lesser love that does not have the
passion one should have for the Father. So Jesus asks Peter if he
really loves with a deep, instinctive, personal affection for Jesus, as for
a close friend.
This hurts Peter. Peter says, "Yes I love you." (with a deep,
instinctive, personal affection, as for a close friend) Each time, Jesus
gives Peter responsibility. As we read the Bible, we find that Peter
does feed the lambs and sheep as Jesus has commanded. As Peter
grows, he begins to understand the deeper love for the Father that
Jesus asked for the first two times. In his New Testament writings,
Peter uses this kind of love nine times to describe how we should live.
We are called to live with reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion, as
one loves the Father. We are called to live with God's intentional love.
The Bible teaches us that God is love. And God comes to live in our
hearts through His Holy Spirit. So with God inside of us, we can
harness the power of His love and let it flow. It will not all happen at
once. We will have to grow like Peter. But if we seriously commit to
allowing Jesus to work in us, this love will overflow!
Just like the song "Pass It On" brought me to tears, so did the following
story that someone sent me. The world needs God's unconditional
love that can flow from us if we choose to grow and allow God to work
through us!
>Pass it on
>He was driving home one evening, on a two-lane country road.
>Work, in this small mid-western community, was almost as slow
>as his beat-up Pontiac. But he never quit looking. Ever since
>the Levis factory closed, he'd been unemployed, and with winter
>raging on, the chill had finally hit home.
>It was a lonely road. Not very many people had a reason to be
>on it, unless they were leaving. Most of his friends had already
>left. They had families to feed and dreams to fulfill. But he
>stayed on. After all, this was where he buried his mother and
>father. He was born here and knew the country. He could go
>down this road blind, and tell you what was on either side, and
>with his headlights not working, that came in handy. It was
>starting to get dark and light snow flurries were coming down.
>He'd better get a move on. You know, he almost didn't see the
>old lady, stranded on the side of the road. But even in the dim
>light of day, he could see she needed help. So he pulled up in
>front of her Mercedes and got out. His Pontiac was still
>sputtering when he approached her. Even with the smile on his
>face, she was worried. No one had stopped to help for the last
>hour or so. Was he going to hurt her? He didn't look safe, he
>looked poor and hungry. He could see that she was frightened,
>standing out there in the cold. He knew how she felt. It was that
>chill that only fear can put in you. He said, "I'm here to help you
>m'am. Why don't you wait in the car where it's warm. By the
>way, my name is Joe."
>Well, all she had was a flat tire, but for an old lady, that was bad
>enough. Joe crawled under the car looking for a place to put
>the jack, skining his knuckles a time or two. Soon he was able
>to change the tire. But he had to get dirty and his hands hurt.
>As he was tightening up the lug nuts, she rolled down her
>window and began to talk to him. She told him that she was
>from St. Louis and was only just passing through. She couldn't
>thank him enough for coming to her aid. Joe just smiled as he
>closed her trunk. She asked him how much she owed him.
>Any amount would have been alright with her. She had already
>imagined all the awful things that could have happened had he
>not stopped. Joe never thought twice about the money.This was
>not a job to him. This was helping someone in need, and God
>knows there were plenty who had given him a hand in the past.
>He had lived his whole life that way, and it never occurred to him
>to act any other way. He told her that if she really wanted to pay
>him back, the next time she saw someone who needed help,
>she could give that person the assistance that they needed,
>and Joe added "...and think of me". He waited until she started
>her car and drove off. It had been a cold and depressing day,
>but he felt good as he headed for home, disappearing into the
>twilight.
>A few miles down the road the lady saw a small cafe. She went
>in to grab a bite to eat, and take the chill off before she made
>the last leg of her trip home. It was a dingy looking restaurant.
>Outside were two old gas pumps. The whole scene was
>unfamiliar to her. The cash register was like the telephone of an
>out of work actor, it didn't ring much. Her waitress came over
>and brought a clean towel to wipe her wet hair. She had a sweet
>smile, one that even being on her feet for the whole day couldn't
>erase. The lady noticed that the waitress was nearly eight
>months pregnant, but she never let the strain and aches change
>her attitude. The old lady wondered how someone who had so
>little could be so giving to a stranger. Then she remembered
>Joe. After the lady finished her meal, and the waitress went to
>get her change from a hundred dollar bill, the lady slipped right
>out the door. She was gone by the time the waitress came
>back. She wondered where the lady could be, then she noticed
>something written on a napkin. There were tears in her eyes,
>when she read what the lady wrote. It said, "You don't owe me a
>thing, I've been there too. Someone once helped me out, the
>way I'm helping you. If you really want to pay me back, here's
>what you do. Don't let the chain of love end with you." Well,
>there were tables to clear, sugar bowls to fill, and people to
>serve, but the waitress made it through another day. That night
>when she got home from work and climbed into bed, she was
>thinking about the money and what the lady had written. How
>could she have known how much she and her husband needed
>it? With the baby due next month, it was going to be hard. She
>knew how worried her husband was, and as he lay sleeping
>next to her, she gave him a soft kiss and whispered soft and
>low, "Everything's gonna be alright, I love you Joe."
>Pass it on...
N Prayer,
Johnny <*}}}><