Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, 'Follow me!" Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. 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.'
I am just like Peter in so much of my life. I'm walking along and Jesus is sharing something important with me, but then I notice something else. It doesn't matter what it is, but it causes me to take my eyes off of him. In those moments, I'm just like Peter; I say, "Well, what about him?" A million different questions start racing through my mind. None of them are good, because in each one I'm comparing myself or my life to someone else.
Jesus says, "What is that to you? You must follow me." I think that's pretty clear. Don't worry about what anyone else is doing around you...you must follow me.
It's hard to follow someone if you don't look at them. If I'm walking through some place tricky, I want to put my feet exactly where the person in front of me does. Thankfully, if we're following Jesus, he always has the best path picked out for us. It just becomes a matter of keeping our eyes on him.
I'm not sure why this was such an "a ha" for me. Maybe it's because I've been distracted lately. I can't keep looking to the left and the right; I need tunnel vision for the right thing. No matter what anyone else around me is doing, Jesus is saying, "You must follow me."
hear, hear!
ReplyDeleteNice insight. Your statements about what really following someone looks like reminds me of hiking.
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