Key Verse:
Jesus answered, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what
is that to you? You must follow
Me."
John 21:22
C. S. Lewis' series of children's books known as
the Chronicles of Narnia, are meant to help all of us understand in a fresh way
how God involves Himself with His children.
The books tell of some children who leave this world temporarily to have
adventures in a different world known as, Narnia, in which they meet a Lion
named Aslan, who represents the Christ figure.
Aslan guides them through these adventures, sometimes directly and
sometimes not. Sometimes the children
follow obediently and sometimes they fail.
The children learn early, in their dealings with Aslan that there are
two questions that he will not answer.
One question is, "What if?" and the other is, "What about
the other person?" When the
children have to face the consequences of their own decisions, they will often
ask, "what about the other person?
What is going to happen to him or her?" to which Aslan always
responds, "Child, I'm telling you your story."
That, I believe, is what is happening here with
Peter and John. I believe that Peter has
grasped the seriousness of the responsibility that Jesus is placing on his
shoulders. Probably, Jesus had drawn off
Peter privately to have this conversation concerning his commissioning that we
have been thinking about for the past two days.
Now, Peter looks round, sees John trailing behind and wants to know,
"What about him? What is his
task?" Jesus responds basically as
Aslan, "Peter, I'm telling you your story.
Never mind about John. You do
what I have charged you to do and leave John to me."
No two walks are alike. In Isaiah, we read about all the different
crops and how a good farmer knows how to treat each one differently to benefit
from what it has to offer. Some crops
produce grain while others are spices.
Some seeds are treated gently while others need to be ground under a
cartwheel to expose the meat. I suppose
the wheat could complain, "Why am I treated so roughly? Why can't I be treated more like the
cumin?" The farmer knows why. They are different, for different
purposes. If the wheat was not ground
the bread would be practically uneatable and cumin could be ruined if the
reverse were true.
Jesus warns Peter not to compare, but to live
out the purpose to which he has been called.
If John had asked a similar question, I'm sure that Jesus would have
responded in the same way.
Paul says it this way: "There are different kinds of gifts, but
the same Spirit. There are different
kinds of service, but the same Lord.
There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them
in all men." (1
Cor. 12:4-6) He then moves on to
explain how, we are one body with many different parts and gifts that must be
treated differently as our calling and giftedness requires.
John's calling was to serve Jesus in a different
way than Peter, but the task and result would be the same, to glorify God and
win the world to Christ. It is the same
with us today. Some of us sing, others
write. Some have money, others are called
to missions oversees. Some of us are
called to singleness while others are called to marry and produce
families. Even in this, some have
biological children while others adopt and still others open their homes to do
foster care. We are all different, and
our Heavenly Father knows what is needed to bring the best of ourselves to Him
for His glory.
Don't focus on why your
walk doesn't look like that of someone whom you believe to be more fortunate
than yourself. Don't wonder why someone
else isn't growing as fast or producing as much fruit as you. "Child, God is telling you your story.” He is working on you. Focus on the job that He has assigned you and
leave others to Him, trusting that He is doing the same with them as you, doing
what it takes to make all of us shine with His glory.
Hymn: "Fill Thou My Life O Lord"
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