Friday, September 30, 2005

You follow Me

�Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following�Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, �But Lord, what about this man?� Jesus said to him, �If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.�� John 21: 20-22

This verse makes me chuckle and reminds me of children�.and us. Can you just hear Peter saying, �What about him?� Can you just see your child pointing at a sibling and saying �What about her, she�s not doing her chores?� What is it that makes us think our obedience is somehow connected to others?
As a counselor I can�t count the number of times I�ve been told that the reason the person in my office is doing what they are is because they are just responding to what someone else in their life is doing. I think you know what I mean. Perhaps it�s your friend telling you that the reason she is so disrespectful to her husband is because he is not affectionate towards her. Maybe the person is you. Perhaps you are convincing yourself that it�s okay to come to work late, leave early or take a long lunch because that is what everyone in your office does and the boss has never complained.
I think Jesus� point is quite clear to Peter and to us. Regardless�you follow me. Regardless of what your husband does, you follow me. Regardless of how your boss behaves, you follow me. Regardless of how your children behave, you follow me. Regardless of the movies your friends watch, you follow me. Regardless of what is acceptable in other homes, you follow me. Regardless of how you feel, you follow me.
Jesus knows we are easily distracted from our course and He wants us to stay steadfast and immovable from following Him even when the world around us is not. We need to stop looking around at what others are doing for what is that to us. We need to follow Him one step at a time, moment by moment.

Your challenge for today is to ask God if there have been others that you�ve been pointing at and asking �What about her?� By a choice of your will, decide just to follow Him.

Diane

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