When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?”22 Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!”
-John 21:21-22 (ESV)
We're a nation of competitors. We join the "rat race" each day of our lives. We compete with our neighbors for the bigger, better house. We compete with our coworkers for the corner office. It seems, at times, that this competition mindset carries over into our churches and ministries. We are a nation of competitors, and I think it even plagued the disciples as well.
After receiving his instructions from the resurrected Jesus, Peter turns and sees John, and says, "When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, 'Lord, what about this man?'" One of two reasons crossed my mind as to why Peter would have asked something like this. 1) Was he concerned that John would be left out? Maybe Peter wanted to be sure that John had a part in the Kingdom work, so he wanted to make sure Jesus saw him standing behind them. 2) Peter wanted to make sure that John's ministry wouldn't be bigger or better than his. I don't know which idea Peter may have had. But you can see the "competition" mode starting.
Jesus' reply, in verse 22, "Jesus said unto him, 'If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!'" Jesus, in turn, rebukes Peter for his question. Basically, Jesus is telling Peter that it doesn't really matter what I have for him to do, you must keep doing what I've told you to do. Lately, I've been talking and writing a lot about judging others. Maybe if we took the words of Jesus to heart, we'd be less judgmental toward others. When we realize that we must follow Jesus, and do what He's instructed us to do, when we focus on Him, we won't be so inclined to compete with others or judge them. Jesus called us to follow Him. Are you doing that? Think About It.
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