A Reflection On Loving Others

When I need to develop the heart of a shepherd

Just as the question in John 21:17—“Do you love me?”—reminds us of the great commandment to love God with everything that is in us, the imperative of the verse—“Feed my sheep”—reminds us that there is a second great commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves. To have a heart for God is also to have a heart for that which concerns Him. And God has made it known throughout Scripture that He is passionately concerned for His people. The Great Shepherd tends to His sheep. He watches them, He feeds them, He protects them. He cares more deeply than we can know.

Do we have the heart of a shepherd? Are we passionate about the welfare of others? Do we tend to one another with the same concern with which the Great Shepherd tends to us? Too often we envision our love for God as a separate endeavor from our love for others. But the two are intertwined. The first, if genuine, inevitably leads to the second. To love God is to love our brother.

[Jesus] asked him, “Simon son of John, do you love me? . . . Then feed my sheep.”

John 21:17