A Loving Investment

(Editor’s Note- Today’s Scripture is from John 21:15 – Not a November passage but a really good passage with a very insightful devotional)

    “Warren Bennis once wrote about a promising junior executive at IBM who was involved in a risky venture for the company and ended up losing ten million dollars in the gamble. He was called into the office of Tom Watson, Sr., the founder, and leader of IBM for forty years, a business legend. The junior exec, overwhelmed with guilt and fear, blurted out, “I guess you’ve called me in for my resignation. Here it is. I re-sign.” Watson replied, “You must be joking. I just invested ten million dollars educating you; I can’t afford your resignation.”

     Probably all of us have felt at times like we should simply quit because we feel like such a failure. It’s one thing to disappoint ourselves, and then another to know that we have disappointed the one person that we wanted to impress. Peter must have concluded that he could always go back to fishing, but Jesus had no intention of letting him go. Jesus has invested too much to give up on Peter—not monetarily of course, but 3 1/2 years of personal training, hundreds of miles on foot, a walk on water, a personal glimpse of eternity on the mountain, the rejection of the Jews, the old rugged cross, resurrection morning…and the denial, oh yes, the denial.

The struggle for Peter to both honor his calling and deal with his shame of denial wasn’t about failure, abilities, gifts, training, or past experiences; these are only symptoms of the real, underlying problem. Jesus identifies Peter’s problem as a lack of love: “Peter, do you love Me?” Today, we have all kinds of reasons why marriages fail, churches split, families splinter, and leaders stumble. We attribute the outcomes to “financial pressure” or “parental abuse” or “peer pressure”. Jesus tenderly addresses Peter’s affections—an area where we too are vulnerable to failure—his love for his Savior.

    I have only been in the hospital one time in my life. Jan and I returned from Wisconsin after helping a missionary do some needed repair to his house. In the process of helping him, I got a little piece of metal in my finger. The next day and the day following, I developed a lump on my elbow, my arm swelled and turned red. Another day passed before I was diagnosed with staph infection. The doctors said, “Staph is in the air, but it needed an entry point into your body. If you had made sure that the finger you were probing with a needle had bled, it would have sealed the wound, and you would not have suffered this infection. (From then on, I have made sure that a little blood accompanied my search for slivers!) Love for Jesus seals the heart that is vulnerable to the “sin virus”. Ultimately, it’s a deep love for Him that motivates our service, disciplines our walk, honors our commitments, and guards our hearts. His investment in me is sealed with His blood.

 Jim B

   ’47 / ’56  St Charles  MN