So Peter seeing him said to Jesus, “Lord, and what about this man?”

Jesus said to him, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!”

John 21:22-23 HCSB

You’ve heard me mention Matthew 6:33 many, many times.  It tells us that we should focus completely on God and He will take good care of us. If we focus on Him, He will supply our needs and keep us protected and well cared for. I have also talked a great deal about how the devil likes to distract us.

Well, when I read this scripture passage, I was so convicted. That seems to be happening a lot lately. Peter, as you may recall, was the disciple who denied Jesus three times just as Jesus had told him he would do. This came after Peter told Jesus that he would he would never forsake him. He then told Jesus he would follow Him even to death.  In the 21st chapter of John, the disciples are together in their fishing boat and see someone standing on the beach. They don’t realize that it’s Jesus. But when they have caught no fish and the man on the beach tells them to cast their nets to the other side and they catch so many fish that they can barely haul the nets in, yet the nets are not torn, they know this is Jesus. Only Jesus could do this, right?

Now when they realize that this is Jesus, Peter dives into the water to swim to him, even though the disciples are bringing the boat to shore. This is an example of Peter’s zeal for Christ. Peter had great zeal as is evidenced throughout the new testament.

Now, my brother in law did a great sermon last week where he talked about how Peter had this zeal for the Lord, but often had problems. He often fell short of his goal. Remember when Jesus called him to walk out on the water and he took his focus off of Jesus and onto the waves (Matthew 14:29-31)? Here in this scripture passage, he is doing well. But, he is distracted by John.

Jesus is speaking with Peter about his future and Peter stops to ask about John’s future. What does that have to do with the price of tea in China, right? Jesus rebukes Peter for being distracted by John. Peter is supposed to be following Jesus, period, end of story. His job is not to worry about what another disciple will be doing.

Sound familiar? I don’t know if anyone else has this problem, but I find myself distracted by things that are none of my business quite often. I can even make really good arguments for why these things are my business, but the bottom line is that they are God’s business and of no concern for me. Yesterday, I was taking back roads to take my mom to a doctor’s appointment. As I watched horses grazing in the field and one with a little colt by her side, I thought of the wonders of the world. It was a beautiful day. I thought about how God had blessed us with the beautiful sky and how that little colt exemplified new life. But I quickly was reminded that this life here is temporary. We shouldn’t get too bogged down in it.

Yet, I find myself worrying about what other people do. I find myself fretting over the political situation, both locally and nationally. Why? This is all temporary. I just need to focus on God’s business. This means that I need to love unconditionally. I need to get along with others to the best of my ability. I need to do my best to live the way Christ modeled for us.

Now, while I am doing my best to do this, the devil becomes angry and he has a very powerful tool in his arsenal. It’s the tool of distraction.  He uses people to distract me. Just the other day, I learned that someone who used to be very close to me is gossiping about me and saying unkind things. I have someone who lies to me regularly and sadly expects me to believe it. And, if I’m not careful, the devil will try to get me to start comparing my life to someone else’s who seems to be much better off. Fortunately, I don’t play that game with the devil so much anymore. All of these things are distractions. That person gossiping about me, what concern is that to me? This is a problem they are having with God, this is not my problem. The person that is lying to me, again they are having a serious problem with God, not me.

Now of course, we are to help people when we can, but when you try and you kindly try to set them straight and it doesn’t work, shake that dust off and move on. Pray that God will send someone to water that seed that you planted. But whatever you do, stay focused on God and don’t allow the devil to use these people to distract you!

Have a great weekend!