essence

What is the essence of your faith? Isn’t it a relationship with me? Yet have you encountered believers for whom it seems it is a relationship with the Bible, with a church, or with a pastor? These are all good things, and those who love me love my word, and my people, and my shepherds. Yet loving these things is a consequence of loving me and not the other way around. I asked Peter if he loved me more than these. The story does not make explicit what ‘these’ were, but it doesn’t matter, and Peter was distressed nonetheless. Do you love me more than anything? This is the essence of your faith.