Today's devotion was about something that I often forget. When Jesus talked to Peter after his resurrection and asked him thrice if Peter loved Him, Peter replied that he did. Jesus then responded, "Feed my sheep." The devotion pointed out that Jesus did not ask Peter if Peter loved Jesus' sheep, but only if Peter loved Jesus. The distinction here is monumental.
Jesus said that the two greatest commandments are to love God with everything in us and to love our neighbor as ourselves. If we love God, then as Jesus pointed out to Peter, we will feed His sheep, which I suppose could be interpreted as either the church or every soul on earth. Loving His sheep is not enough. After all, His sheep are human (ha ha...funny). Often they will be unresponsive, harsh, or judgmental. I know I've been all three of those things to people close to me numerous times. However, if we love God--if Jesus is the reason that we love and care for others and not so we can receive recognition and gratitude from those around us--then we won't care how His sheep respond. We are doing it for Christ, and as long as we are doing it, we are pleasing Him.
This reminds me of one of my great weaknesses: placing value on what others think of me. I have this desire to be the universal diplomat, the guy that everyone likes regardless of their relations with others. While this is certainly not a despisable goal, it can become one if we allow it to compromise our beliefs in an effort to please everyone, and in my life, it has come to that in the past. Sadly, the Bible states that if everyone likes you, then you're doing something wrong. Jesus said that we will be despised because He was despised. I guess the best thing to do is acknowledge that you can't make everyone happy and just live to make God happy. I will press on toward that goal, and I'm willing to bet that as a side effect, you'll make a lot of people happy anyway.
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