Pastor’s Blog

Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who had been reclining at table close to him and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?”  When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?”  Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!” (John 21:20-22, ESV)

One of the most natural instincts we have is to compare ourselves with others. This tendency is more acute when we perceive that someone else is having an easier time of it than we are.

Jesus had just indicated to Peter the manner by which he would die—crucifixion (John 21:18-19). As he walked alongside Jesus, Peter noticed his fellow disciple John following a short distance behind. Pondering the painful death that awaited him, he could not help but say, “But Jesus, what about John? What kind of death will he die? Is he going to be crucified, too?”

Reading between the lines, it seems Peter was concerned that John might have it easier than he. As we might put it today, “I’m going to be crucified and he’s not? That’s not fair!”

How does Jesus respond to Peter? Essentially, he says, “What happens to John is none of your business. What is your business is to follow me!

God works out his own good purposes for each one of us. Those purposes, and the events in our lives that bring them about, differ from believer to believer. So when we are hurting, we are tempted to whine—“Everything always happens to me. Everyone else always seems to have it so easy.” Instead, we need to recognize that God has a unique plan for each of us.

Our concern is to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and what he is doing in our lives, not looking around to see what he is or is not doing in someone else’s life. When we look at others, Jesus says to us, “You follow me!”

(posted April 29, 2009)

O make me thine forever, and should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never outlive my love to thee.

These lines conclude Bernard of Clairvaux’s hymn,“O Sacred Head, Now Wounded,” which we will sing in the Maundy Thursday communion service on April 9 (D.V.). They acknowledge the need we have of God’s grace if we are to press on to the end of our course and finish the Christian life well. They plead with God that “should I fainting be,” he would go ahead and take me home rather than let me outlive my love for the Lord.

We do not want to start the Christian life well, only to fade on the homeward leg. King Solomon started well. Who would not be moved by his humility, when, overwhelmed by the immense task of ruling God’s people, he declines to ask for wealth or long life or victory over enemies, but for wisdom? (1 Kings 3:3-14) And who would not find his heart stirred as Solomon utters the prayer of dedication for the temple? Magnificent as the temple was, God was more so; Solomon recognized of the Lord that “heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!” (! Kings 8:27)

But later in life Solomon faded. Badly. His foreign wives turned his heart from the Lord. He “went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord.”  (1 Kings 11:5-6)

Following Christ is not a hobby. We do not take it up as an interest that we pursue for a time, and when we lose interest in it we drop it and take up something else. Rather, it is who we are. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.” (2 Cor. 5:17) Our faith in Christ, and the Bible upon which that faith is based, is the pole star by which all other courses, relationships, and priorities are assessed.

My prayer for myself and for you is that, by the grace of God, we could repeat for ourselves the words of one who finished well. Paul wrote to Timothy, “…the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

(posted 5 April 2009)