Three times did our Lord ask Simon Peter, "Simon, lovest thou me", yet the first time the question was put forth in more detail. It was as if our Lord was telling Peter to look upon all those things which were around him and then asking, "Do you love me more than all these things which you see?" Then our Lord came back twice with the question of, "Do you love me?"

Notice, in the first question, Simon was asked if he loved our Lord more than THESE. I checked my dictionary to find the meaning of this word but it was not to be found. I then had my wife call the Albany County Public Library here in Laramie and this is the information I received from them. "According to Webster's International Dictionary, THESE is the plural of THIS. It is applied to a number, as of years, persons, etc. Taken collectively or as a whole. A writer's reference defines THESE as a demonstrative pronoun that points to a noun. The pronoun substitutes for a specific noun."

In the above sense, THESE would apply to all those things Peter could see.

Let's look at some of the things Peter could see. He could see his beloved country of Israel. He could see his beloved Sea of Tiberias where they had just been fishing all night. He could see six of his fellow disciples, two of which were his fishing partners. He could see the ship they had been fishing in as well as the 153 fishes which had just been caught at the word of the Lord. He could see the ashes of the fire where the bread and fishes he had just eaten had laid.

Being able to see all these things, it was as if our Lord was saying, "Simon, I want you to look upon ALL these things and know that it was by My hands that these things exist. Look at them well, Simon, and then tell me, 'Do you love me more than all these things?" Notice, all those things were blessings from our Lord to Simon. The question Simon is really being asked is this: "Simon, do you love Me more than all my blessings to you?"

I believe it would be well for us to consider the following questions: 1) Do we love our Lord more than we love His blessings?
2)Do we love our Lord more than we love His provisions?
3)Do we love our Lord more than we love Heaven?

Please don't be hasty in your answer, but think.

Now notice, His next two questions were, "Simon, Do you love me? It is as if He is asking, "Simon, do you really love me or is it my blessings which you love?" "Do you really love me, or is it my Heaven that you love?"

Brothers and Sisters, is it really our Lord Jesus we love, or is it His benefits to us that we love? What if there was no benefits? Would we love Him? If there were no blessings, would we love Him? If there was no Heaven, would we love Him?

Do we really love HIM or do we love THESE?

"Lovest thou Me more than these?" Think about it!!!

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