Follow Me

Do you worry about others? Are you jealous of how others are blessed? Do you ask God, “Why them and not me?” Do you realize what attitude that question reveals about you? Are you willing to change the way you think?

Our culture has become so self-centered we don’t even recognize it anymore. If we hear of someone who does one nice thing, we think they are an unselfish person. Unfortunately, we see people doing those things to be recognized for their good deed, they are looking for their ten minutes of fame.

Rare is the person who isn’t looking for people to recognize them for something. Even more rare is the person who doesn’t long for something someone else has. We yearn for more. We work long hours for more money to buy more stuff. We ignore our families for material things. We work out of jealousy rather than out of love.

We see in today’s passage Peter asking about John. This is after Jesus has broken the bad news to Peter that he will become a martyr, but he is to follow Jesus anyway. Peter wants to know about John. He wants to know if John will be a martyr, and if not, why not. Notice Jesus’ reply. In effect, He tells Peter to not worry about John nor Jesus’ plans for him, but to follow Him.

How often are we like Peter? How often do we wonder why God has chosen us for an unpleasant task and not someone else? We look around and point out someone else. Moses did the same thing when God chose him to go back to Egypt. Yet, God won out and Moses did as He was told.

Perhaps we should spend less time trying to convince God to use someone else and simply do what God has told us to do. Perhaps we should spend our energy on God’s tasks rather than making excuses or dreaming up reasons not to. Perhaps we should believe that God has a good reason for tasking it to us rather than someone else. Perhaps we might learn something from God, if we follow Him.

I pray we all choose to follow God’s instructions. I pray we stop worrying about how God is using someone else. I pray each one of us follows the plan God has for us. Stop making excuses. Start following God’s plan. Choose to trust Him. Believe He knows what he is doing.

John 21:21-22 When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.”