John 21; 2 Chronicles 33; Psalm 89:1-18

“Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, ‘But Lord, what about this man?’ Jesus said to him, ‘If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.’” (John 21:21-22 NKJV)

Peter had been given his marching orders, along with the information that he’d die because of his obedience to Jesus. As usually happens in a case like that, Peter looked around and spied John. “What about him, Lord? What’s he going to do?” Jesus responded, “Mind your own business.” albeit in a nice way. Of course, people being people, many took Jesus’s words and twisted them to make it seem like He’d said that John wouldn’t die. Jesus was making the point that we can’t compare calls. What we’re supposed to do is respond to Him obediently.

Most of us react to God’s instructions like Peter. “That’s tough to do God, what about <insert someone else’s name here>.” The subtext for that usually seems to be, “I’m doing a pretty good job of serving You, let someone else do it.” We’re doing a training on sharing our faith in our church and the question, “Why should God let you into heaven?” breeds the companion answer of “Well, I’m better than most people.” God doesn’t give equal responsibilities to people, nor does He grade on the curve. He calls us according to His desire to equip us and there’s one pass/fail standard: were you obedient to Him? However God calls you, respond in obedience – joyful that He considers you worthy to serve Him.

Thank You, Lord, for giving me the opportunity to walk with You. Keep me so focused on Your desires for my life that I don’t have time to worry about how You’ll use other people.