What some people may see as some of the rudest words the Lord Jesus ever spoke hold for us that have been blessed with ears to hear one of the strongest messages, “Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.” (John 21:22)
We do not need as individuals to be “clued into” every aspect of the plan of the Almighty, we have no right to desire it and we would more than likely in all probability disagree with much of it. Many have misinterpreted this verse completely, they believe it to mean mind your own business, leave others alone on their path, and the Evangelical Churches of today have gone so far as to become part of the enabling society because of the misinterpretation of this verse and others like it.
Paul tried to correct these wrong thoughts when the Holy Spirit had him expound on the members of the body of Christ, how we are all knit together and can only work efficiently as a whole, (Romans 12:4) the Lord told us how we can do nothing of ourselves, (John 5:30) how we must abide in the vine, (John 15:5) but each of us are individuals in Christ, at least those who are part of the body, and we must remain ever vigilant to fulfill the obligations that He has placed before us.
Many churches today are of course nothing more than social gathering halls, true worship is rarely found within their walls and those who attend in part would have little spiritual discernment toward the will of the Lord in their lives beyond their own personal growth in Him. Many who claim to be in the body are deceiving themselves, but the real question is, are those that are in the body obeying the Lord in the path that He has set them on. Far too many Christians are more than overly concerned with the cares of this life and the path that the world is on, their faith grows weaker with the onslaught of each new calamity. The Lord told us that “And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.” (Matt. 24:6) And then He said to not be worried about these things, He said that some of us would be cast into prison for ten days, (Rev. 2:10) but that we are not to give it a second thought, in fact, we are not even to contemplate what we will say in that day if it happens to us, He will speak for us, through us.
Have you ever given any thought to what the Lord and Peter talked about as they walked along the beach, have you ever contemplated how John, the one who laid his head on the chest of Christ felt when he was not invited along on that walk, how trying it must have been for him to not run up to them and listen in, how difficult it must have been for the big fisherman, Peter, to not allow pride to swell up because the Lord of all creation has something to say just to him.
Those who have been blessed by the Lord to find themselves in both of these positions in their lives are those who have a fervent desire to serve the Lord in whatever way He sees fit. John had no clue that just a few years later he would be exiled to Patmos, and then in the presence of the Lord, showing him and commanding him to write down the Book of Revelation for us. I have no idea what Jesus had to say to Peter on that walk on the beach, and I don’t need to know, it was for Peter, not for me, my calling in Christ is not Peter’s, or John’s, or yours. My responsibility is to listen, trust, and obey, the same as every born-again believer, my job is to study to show myself approved in the in-between times, the times when I have, in a sense, been left on the beach while He directs another in their calling. My responsibility is to do as I have been commanded to do until I am told to do something else.
Each of us are in the body, our responsibility is to ensure that as much as is in us that we are submitting to the will of the Holy Spirit so that the whole body will be profitable unto the glory of God, those who are not will be seen as unprofitable, (Luke 17:10) and will be ashamed at His coming. (1 John 2:28)
