This wonderful encounter occurs at the end of John chapter 21 with the resurrected Christ speaking directly to his disciple Simon Peter. Three times, Jesus asks Peter, "Do you love me?" Three times, Peter responds with "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." The same question three times and the same answer three times.

You can feel the emotion in Peter's response; he sounds frustrated, but I also sense an almost desperate conviction of "you know I love you…why won't you believe me?" After each exchange Jesus tells Peter, "Feed my sheep." Although this can sound very directive, when I read the scripture, it feels like Jesus says it softly, but in a manner that emanates the deep love Jesus has for Peter. Jesus had Peter's attention. Jesus wanted Peter to embrace the role of being the Shepherd, the one who would accept leadership for sharing the Good News. To "feed" the people.

A number of years ago, I went to my church on a Sunday morning, it is a Methodist church, and the pastor preached on this same scripture where Jesus asked Peter three times, "Do you love me?" and then said three times, "Feed my sheep." After church, while my wife fixed lunch, I turned on the television to a local Baptist church (they had a pastor I really admired), and he was preaching on the same scripture. An interesting coincidence. That evening, I attended a Presbyterian church service with a bunch of college kids I was working with, and the pastor preached the same scripture, the same three questions, with the same three responses.

I no longer thought it was just a coincidence. I know I can be dense sometimes, but after hearing this passage preached three times by three different pastors on the same day…I said, OK Lord, you know I love you…you have my attention. In the ensuing years, I embraced a more active role in the ministries placed before me. If Jesus can use an ordinary fisherman in ministry, He can also use you and me to feed the sheep, to love our neighbors, to share the good news.

Lord, you know we love you; you have our attention. Let us see that a coincidence might really be an opportunity to share some good news, to feed your sheep. Amen.

Today's devotion was written and read by Owen Ragland.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

I'm reading C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity again - third or fourth time through, I've lost count. You'd think a book I've read that many times wouldn't surprise me anymore. But yesterday, I hit Book 3, Chapter 1, and something clicked that I'd completely missed before.

Lewis uses this landlord-tenant analogy to explain our relationship with God, and it stopped me cold. We walk around thinking we own our lives - our time, our bodies, our choices, our futures. But Lewis points out that's fundamentally wrong. God made us. Christ redeemed us. We're not owners. We're stewards. We're tenants living in someone else's property.

That "a-ha" moment sent me straight to Paul's letter to the Corinthians, where he says almost the exact same thing: "You are not your own; you were bought at a price."

When Paul wrote those words, he used agorazō - Greek marketplace language, the same word for purchasing goods or redeeming slaves. He's being deliberately blunt: your life has changed ownership. You no longer belong to yourself.

Once you see it Lewis's way - as tenants, not owners - Christian morality suddenly makes more sense. Lewis says Christian morality has three parts: how you treat yourself, how you treat others, and your relationship with God. Those aren't arbitrary rules. They're the natural responsibilities of tenancy. Don't ruin the Landlord's property. Treat the other tenants well. Remember, you're accountable to the Owner who's moved in with you.

Here's what really got me: we're being shaped to be the kind of tenants who can actually live with the Landlord forever. That's sanctifying grace in action - God transforming us to match our actual identity as His beloved property.

And the beautiful part? That fulfilling life starts now. The moment you put your faith in Christ's redeeming gift, the renovation begins. You don't have to wait until heaven to experience the joy of living in alignment with God. Yes, we're going to change residences at some point - Scripture promises perfected bodies fitted for our permanent home. But the landlord-tenant relationship isn't something that only pays off later. It's already paying dividends right here in the temporary housing.

When you understand it this way, the whole Christian life shifts. It's not primarily about what you can't do - a long list of religious restrictions. It's about God fitting you to live with Him, starting today. Every transformation, every refinement - it's preparation for the permanent home, yes, but it's also making your current residence more livable, more joyful, more aligned with how life was meant to be lived. He's renovating you to experience the fullness of joy in His presence - and that renovation makes life better now, not just later.

The cross makes this deeply personal. Christ didn't just pay some abstract cosmic debt. He bought you. He looked at the price tag on your life and said, "Worth it."

So when Paul says "honor God with your bodies," he's saying: live like you understand whose you are. Live like someone who's been purchased at an incredible cost. Live like a tenant who's learning to be family with the Landlord.

Because that's exactly what you are.

Father, help us live as people who understand we belong to You. Thank You for paying the price to redeem us. Transform us into the kind of people who can fully live in Your presence, now and forever. Amen.

This devotional was written and read by Cliff McCartney

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

The story of Nicodemus has always intrigued me. He is a Pharisee, a member of the group that often questions and harasses Jesus. He is also an educated and thoughtful man. He appears three times in the book of John, but the first time he comes in the evening in stealth, in the dark, to testify that he believes Jesus comes from God. Yet Nicodemus testifies in a private place where no one except Jesus will hear him. And Jesus teaches Nicodemus a lesson. He states that "you must be born again."

Nicodemus, fearing to recognize Jesus' power in public and mired in the reality of this world, takes Jesus' statement literally. He questions how a grown man can emerge again from his mother's womb. Jesus appears to lose patience with him and reminds him that the rebirth is of the spirit, not the flesh. The reader does not know how this encounter ends, but senses that Nicodemus left chastised.

I can identify with Nicodemus. I am a person who likes to blend in with the people around me. It takes a lot for me even to disagree with others' opinions. I am rarely a verbal witness for Jesus in my life. Yet I am intrigued and in love with the promise that Jesus brings to this world of human frailty.

Nicodemus appears two more times in the book of John. When the Pharisees are determined to condemn Jesus as a false prophet, he speaks up. "Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he has been doing?" (John 7:51). Nicodemus has found his voice. He dares to speak against the prevailing condemnation of his Pharisee companions.

After Jesus' crucifixion, Nicodemus accompanies Joseph of Arimathea to Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus. He helps prepare Jesus' body for burial with a mixture of spices and oils. Nicodemus has discovered the life of the spirit. In anointing the body of Jesus, he has been born again. May we all be reborn with the water and the spirit in this season of rebirth all around us.

Dear Lord, thank you for the examples you give us of people just like us, hesitant and guarded, who can discover the life of the spirit. Help us to embrace this life as well, and to go forth and proclaim your vision to the world. Amen

This devotional was written by Laura Derr and read by Judy Wilson.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.