John 21:20-22, “Peter turned and saw that the follower Jesus loved was walking behind them. (This was the follower who had leaned against Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who will turn against you?”) When Peter saw him behind them, he asked Jesus, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus answered, “If I want him to live until I come back, that is not your business. You follow me.” (NCV)
As the scene unfolds, I sense that maybe John gave one of those, “Sorry dude, I’m the one that Jesus really loves,” looks with a smile of contentment and a shrug of the shoulders. It’s almost as if they are competing with one another.
Pastors have a way of trying to keep up with the spiritual Joneses at times. Church attendance, worship style, Christian bling, new methods, fads, fashions, etc… I for one am guilty of looking at other churches and thinking “if I had their resources, of course I would have those results.”
Whenever I feel this way, the Lord slaps me out of my visions of envy and reminds me that I am on a path to death. “That’s none of your business,” Jesus says, “Follow me.”
God calls us each to walk our own journey. “Peter, get your eyes off John and look at me!” If we are to follow Jesus passionately, we must take our eyes off everyone else. When we are looking at others, we become self-centered. Following Jesus should mean we become less concerned with “my blessing” and much more concerned with “how can I bless others.” We should be much more interested in helping people fulfill their destiny, than trying to get ahead of them.
Isn’t this what church and discipleship are all about? We are called to build people, not an institution. As we can concentrate on building people, Jesus builds the church because the church is really people. Praise Chapel Chicago may not be like every other church in town (and there is a lot of them), but we know we are following Jesus as we reach out to people and help them find purpose in Christ.
“I’ll make you fishers of men,” Jesus said, “Come. Follow me.”
So in the infamous words of Jerry Maguire I declare, “The fish are coming with me.”