Not my concern
Jesus said to him, “If I will that he remains till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.” John 21:22
When you were a child, did you ever get in trouble with your parents or a teacher? Maybe you were involved in something you should not have been with a friend or a sibling and when you got caught, you were the only one that got punished? When you asked about what was going to happen to the others that helped you, you were told not to worry about what happened to them, and to just keep yourself clean and on the up and up. Chances are that did not make you feel any better and you probably felt like you were singled out and treated unfairly but there was nothing you could do about it.
In today’s reading, there is a similar situation going on. Not that anyone was being punished, but after Jesus told Peter that one day he would stretch out his hands and be carried where he didn’t want to go, Peter immediately asked, what about John? It seems humorous to consider the scenario of an adult man giving this childish response. Probably, Peter wanted to hear that he was not going to be the only one with this destiny. However, Jesus didn’t give Peter the answer he wanted. Instead, He said it was not Peter’s concern what happened to anyone else, only to give attention to his own calling to follow Jesus’ example and plan.
This is our part still today. It doesn’t matter what someone next to you is doing in their walk with the Lord. Maybe you notice that some are not serving as much as you are, and others are doing more. It can be easy to fall into the trap of thinking and even becoming frustrated when it doesn’t look like others are doing their part in the work of the LORD. But, as Jesus said, “What is that to you?” Keep your focus on your own calling and your part of the plan and let the Holy Spirit do His work of leading the others.
Today I want to encourage you to take your eyes off people and put them back onto the One who is leading and blessing your life. Make it your mission in life to complete down to the last detail everything that you have been assigned to do. Certainly, when you see those around you struggling or missing it you can reach out a helping hand, but not to accuse or rebuke, only to love them and gently help them to get back on track. Decide today that you are going to follow Him wherever He leads and then encourage others to do the same.
Today’s scripture reading: John 21:20-25
20 Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at the supper, and said, “Lord, who is the one who betrays You?”
21 Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, “But Lord, what about this man?”
22 Jesus said to him, “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.”
23 Then this saying went out among the brethren that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you?”
24 This is the disciple who testifies of these things, and wrote these things; and we know that his testimony is true.
25 And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen.
The Daily Dose 