After His resurrection from the dead, Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved Him. He answered yes three times. Then Jesus told Peter how he would die, apparently by crucifixion. Peter wondered about how it would go with John. So he asked Jesus, “What about this man?” Jesus brushed off the question and said, “What is that to you? You follow Me!”  Here’s the whole conversation.

  “Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (This He said to show by what kind of death he was die to glorify God.) And after saying this He said to him, “Follow me.” 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 21:18-22) Jesus’ blunt words…“None of your business, follow Me” are sweet to my ears. They’re liberating from the depressing bondage of fatal comparing.

  So I was refreshed by Jesus’ blunt words to me (and you): “What is that to you? You follow me!” Peter had just heard a very hard word. You will die, painfully.  His first thought was comparison. What about John? If I have to suffer, will he have to suffer? If my ministry ends like that, will his end like that? If I don’t get to live a long life of fruitful ministry, will he get to?

  That’s the way we’re wired. Compare. Compare. Compare. We crave to know how we stack up in comparison to others. What is that to you, Elizabeth? Follow ye Me. In other words, it’s none of your business Elizabeth! And yes, I’ve heard Him tell me that many times.

  We have to be comfortable in our own skin. None of us carry perfection in anything! The sooner we embrace that truth the quicker we can start feeling comfortable in who we REALLY are. You may see someone on the outside and maybe they look pretty well put together … but what are they like on the inside? We can hide a lot with our outward appearance, but the inward condition is the driving force behind everything we do, say, feel, think and act. Holy Spirit told me one time…all that glitters is not gold. It may look good on the outside but have a heart as black as the ace of spades.

    Unfortunately, many Christians can become graphic examples of pride and complacency. Every one of us has the capacity to set ourselves up as the standard of righteousness. The bottom line is this … pride causes us to compare ourselves to other people.  Pride is the driving force behind comparison.  And in fact it seems to be human nature to always want what you don’t have….you know…the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. My answer to that would be…pull the weeds, feed and water and your grass would look just as good or better than the one you’re admiring so much.  “To love is to stop comparing.”

  Jesus will not judge me according to my superiority or inferiority over anybody. No preacher. No church. No ministry. These are not the standard. Jesus has a work for me to do (and a different one for you). It’s not what He’s given anyone else to do. No one can do what He’s called you to do exactly like you. No one can do what He’s called me to do exactly like me.

  Stop comparing yourself! “Oh, don’t worry; we wouldn’t dare say that we are as wonderful as these other men who tell you how important they are! But they are only comparing themselves with each other, using themselves as the standard of measurement. How ignorant!” (2 Corinthians 10:12 NLT) Apparently, the trap of comparing oneself with other people was even taking place back in Paul’s time. Nothing new under the sun, as Ecclesiastes says. They set their peers as a standard of righteousness. Doesn’t that sound familiar? How often do we find ourselves in the midst of a ‘pity party’ because we fall in the trap of focusing on other people and comparing ourselves to them? There is great potential to tune in on many things regarding other people, their looks, the way they dress, the way they carry themselves, how they talk, their status, their gifts, their talents and a whole lot more! As a matter of fact, we can get so caught up in other people that we completely lose sight of who WE are. This is called “identity crisis”.

  Many people struggle with identity issues and truly … the biggest cause of this is … comparison. Our society has championed the idea and pounded it inside of all of us to evaluate ourselves by human standards of achievement. “Why can’t you be more like your sister?” “Why can’t you be the athlete your brother is?“ Why can’t you make A’s like Mary’s girl? “ We hear it so much we get caught in that trap and it becomes similar to a fixation. We admire others so much that we want to become like them so bad we try to BECOME them…or… we want to jump on their band wagon and become a part of who they are, become a part of their ‘crowd’. This cycle continues until some people lose sight of who they are altogether and begin developing a whole new persona, they put on a mask, pretending to be something they’re not. I call it play acting. Just like when I was a little girl, I admired my Momma and wanted to be just like her. I would play dress up and stumble around in her shoes and her clothes. Thing is, they didn’t fit! They weren’t mine, they were made for her! There are some shoes that are too big for me to try to walk in. I’m not Billy Graham! I haven’t walked his walk so I can’t wear his shoes. I can’t be a Corrie Tin Boom! I haven’t paid the price she had to pay to become who she was. But you see, that don’t bother me because God called me to be me and He has something for me to do Billy Graham or Corrie Tin Boom can’t do as well as I can, whatever it is. It’s called play acting and the part He’s called me to play was created just for me. The problem with this new persona is that it really isn’t who God created you to be. God wants you to take off your mask and be who He birthed you to be. Life is just a big Play and the role God has called you to play won’t fit me…its not mine. I have my own shoes to wear and they won’t fit you. They may be too big for you or they may be too small, God may have called you to walk in bigger shoes, play a bigger part than I. But Jesus whispers in my ear…”Don’t fret baby girl, I got something else for you.” The thing I’m trying to say here is…we all have a role to play in this Play and one role is just as important as the next one. Just because one is highlighted as the star has his name in lights don’t mean squaddly. Take someone out of the play and the whole thing falls apart. So in that understanding….you’re all stars! The play can’t go on without you!

  You see what I’m saying here….your part is just as important to the director (Holy Spirit) as Billy Graham’s or Corrie Tin Boom.

  He took a young shepherd boy and made him a king (gave him a leading role) and I’m sure his brothers and other shepherds thought they were more suited for kingship than he and I’m sure they asked God….what about me, I’m older, wiser…I know I’d make a better king? I’m not a betting woman but if I were I would wager His answer was the same one He gave Peter….don’t you fret your sweet self bout him none, you just mind your own business and follow Me.   

    I hope you find encouragement and freedom today when you hear Jesus say to all your fretting comparisons: “What is that to you? You follow me!” Or in plain ole country talk….”Don’t you fret your sweet self bout all that stuff now, ya hear? You just take care of your own back yard and follow Me.”

And remember…..Life is just a dream anyway, and everyone is a part of the play!

In His love,
Elizabeth