Following...

We live in a society where we see every ones “Highlight reel”… let me try to explain.

When we scroll through our social media feeds, most of the time we are reading about the good things, the cool things about what people are doing… and then something happens inside of all of us… we compare our lives with other people— sometimes these are people we will never meet in our lives— but we still end up comparing our lives with other people. 

There are a few problems with that, the first and most obvious one is: You are not that person. God has not called you to be that person. He has called you to be you, and like it or not, your story will be different than their story. 

The second problem with comparing our lives with people on social media, is that we are only getting a sampling of their lives… we only see the good parts. Sure, some of us might post that we are not feeling well on a particular day, but for the most part what we see on someone’s post is their “Highlight reel”.

God has created you to be you. He wants you to be you. He wants you to do what you can do. He wants you to do what He has called you to do. Only you can be you. You can’t be someone else. You shouldn’t be someone else. 

After Jesus’ resurrection, He was sitting on a beach with his disciples and was taking with them, and all of a sudden He started in on Peter. He asked Peter 3 times if Jesus loved Him, and 3 times Peter responded with Yes, Lord. (You can read this exchange in John 21)

What I am particularly fond of is the exchange that took place AFTER Jesus restored Peter. He proceeded to tell Peter what kind of Death he would die, and I imagine that Peter got a little bit uncomfortable…. you can read it for yourself: 

“Joh 21:8 I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go."

19 Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, "Follow me!"

 20 Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, "Lord, who is going to betray you?")

 21 When Peter saw him, he asked, "Lord, what about him?"

 22 Jesus answered, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.” (NIV)

It’s verses 20-22 that I’m trying to get at here… When Peter got news of the death he was going to die, he immediately turned and looked at— and asked— what about John!?

Jesus responded with: Leave Him alone— you follow me. 

This is what each of us should be doing. Following Jesus. 

There is nothing wrong with celebrating with those who celebrate; its quite biblical, but we shouldn’t wish that we were/are doing what someone else is doing, because Jesus has called all of us to be us; to follow Him. So Let’s get busy doing just that.

Mt 4:19 "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men."