Two Questions for the Year Ahead

                          Jesus asked many questions of His followers when He walked with them; it was the way a Rabbi typically taught his students.  Questions engaged the disciple in the learning process as he would have to think his answer through before responding.

As another year comes to a close, I am thinking of two questions Jesus asked of His disciple Simon Peter:

"What about you?"  He asked.  "Who do you say I am?"

(Luke 9:20)

"Simon, son of John, do you truly love Me?...Feed my sheep."

(John 21)

When Jesus asked the first question of him early on in His ministry, Peter was able to respond immediately with:  "You are the Christ!"  The second question took Peter a bit longer to ponder and answer.  In fact Jesus had to ask it three times of him.  You see, Jesus asked this question of Peter after he had denied Jesus three times.  Even though Peter recognized that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God I think he understood his own shortcomings and failures in his relationship with Him.

As I look back on another year coming to a close I realize that I, like Peter, have come up short - failing many times in my relationship with our Lord.  But He is a gracious God and bids me start afresh once again, just as He did Peter.

I think that is one of the things that we love about celebrating a New Year; it signifies a fresh start.

What a blessing that with Jesus we don't need to wait for a New Year to dawn to start again! 

I encourage you to consider that the questions Jesus asked of Peter, He still asks of us today:  "Who do you say I am?"  "Do you truly love Me?"

If you find that you need a fresh start with Jesus, now is the time!  Don't wait for the clock to strike midnight.  His mercies are new every morning!

Happy New Year!