Heart to Heart

There is always something that seems to be getting in my way. What I have discovered, after a self examination, that something is nearly always me. To face such a reality of truth can be challenging. Growing up as a child, whenever something went wrong and my parents confronted me by asking, “did you do this?”, the best answer was to always blame it on my brother and sister. No child admits they have done something wrong. Not blaming anyone but the issue I am addressing dates back to that situation in Genesis. Romans 5:12 tells us that because one man’s sin entered into the world, and death because of sin, so death spread to all men, because all have sinned. Ephesians 2:3 reads that we were born children of wrath. If we want to blame someone for our failures, good luck because my discovery was it was all on me. Passing the blame is a natural reaction in life from childhood to adulthood. Even though it is a natural type reaction, it doesn’t make the practice correct. Personal responsibility is very challenging and holding oneself to accountability is a true inner battle. We all know what it is like to have others encourage us by pushing or pulling us to get us where we need to be, but when it is all up to us, ourselves, to get us motivated, moving forward and evaluating our actions, it is challenging. In the last chapter of the Book of John in the Bible, there was a moment where Jesus and Peter had a “heart to heart” talk. You have an image immediately about what you think a “heart to heart” talk is. Maybe it was a school teacher who said, listen we’ve got to talk. Possibly it was a grandparent that wanted to have a conversation with you and they talked a bit stern and were firm with words as they attempted to get our attention. It could very well have been a parent who, like my mother would've said, “Buster you sit yourself down right here, me and you are going to talk”! For Jesus, this conversation happened with Peter after His resurrection. It was His third such appearance to the disciples and this happened at the Sea of Galilee. The disciples were not expecting Jesus. Scripture records they didn’t even recognize Him, but once he got to talking, after he had instructed them to go back and cast their nets and fish again, they got to remembering such scenes and experiences that had happened before. They were sitting down, cooking fish on the sea when Jesus and Peter had a one on one, “heart to heart”. When you are striving for self improvement, I would strongly recommend the example Jesus provided with His conversation with Peter. I have discovered in my life that when I attempt to ease into a situation, it always goes haywire. The best approach is established before the “heart to heart” begins. Best practices are to treat people honestly and fairly and if that is your pattern, then going straight to the heart of a matter in a conversation shouldn't be a problem. This practice includes dealing with ourselves. Loving ourself is not selfish. Loving ourselves is healthy. It provides a foundation to help others, because we have been honest with ourselves. Self-evaluation, like any evaluation, should never be designed to crush someone, destroy self-worth or be cruel. The purpose is to grow, learn, see new options, consider other ways to accomplish goals, steps to working around issues and success, because you took time to not blame others but rather you assumed responsibility for you words and actions. Jesus asked Peter one question that went straight to the heart of the matter. Peter, Jesus said, “..do you love me”? Jesus actually asked Peter three times this question. Seems very appropriate for Jesus to ask him this three times, because after all it was Peter that denied Jesus three times, gathered around a fire, hanging out with the crowd. In this “heart to heart” Jesus wanted to know exactly where Peter was, especially since he had so powerfully denied even knowing Jesus and not being a follower. Let us also recall that it was Peter who said, “He would never deny Jesus”. I think I understand Peter rather well I’ve been there myself, how about you? Do you love Jesus? Until then