Thursday, December
27, 2018
A third time he asked him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Then feed my sheep. “I tell you the truth, when you were young, you were able to do as you liked; you dressed yourself and went wherever you wanted to go. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and others will dress you and take you where you don’t want to go.” Jesus said this to let him know by what kind of death he would glorify God. Then Jesus told him, “Follow me.” Peter turned around and saw behind them the disciple Jesus loved—the one who had leaned over to Jesus during supper and asked, “Lord, who will betray you?” Peter asked Jesus, “What about him, Lord?” Jesus replied, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? As for you, follow me.” John 21:17-22(NLT)
If you’re following Jesus as His
disciple, there are a lot of questions that are valid and welcome. You can ask:
· Where do you want me to go?
· What do you want me to do?
· When, and even Why are on the table
These are all questions that help
give us direction and understanding to the scope and urgency of Christ’s
mission. The one question you want to
avoid is something that smacks of idle curiosity about someone
else’s service.
Perhaps Peter just couldn’t help
it; his natural curiosity wanted to probe deeper and know what was in store for
John. It doesn’t mean Peter wasn’t sold
on Jesus being the Messiah, Son of God; that much isn’t in question. It’s just that, who can resist the impulse to
question if someone else is getting a better deal than you? Peter wanted to probe the possibilities while
the conversation was still on the table.
Jesus told him to mind his own business and do what Jesus had set out
for him…not John.
It’s like that with humans. Even when we have a clear view of what God
wants us to do, we can’t help questioning if there’s something better, easier, higher-paying,
more gratifying, upper-level kind of thing for us; we want what we want!
Peter became the chief preacher
among the disciples, and I can tell you from experience a preacher that spends
his days dreaming of having a bigger church, with a much more prominent pulpit
than he or she currently serves is one of Satan’s most successful tools for
tearing churches apart. When someone who’s
supposed to be a shepherd caring for sheep, takes his eye off the ball of being
a shepherd and wants to climb mountains of fame and prestige – that church is
in for a nosedive, and the shepherd is going to wind up in the woodshed. Jesus said, mind the business I gave you; don’t
worry about what I want your neighbor to do!
For You Today
So, now that I’ve bared the soul-trouble
of status-seeking preachers (and probably alienated any of my fellow pastors
who read this), how’s it going in the pride and social-climbing department for
you?
We’re still a few days away from the
deadline of writing those resolutions for the new year. You could add a little holy contentment to
your list.
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