Today’s devotion underscores Jesus Christ’s rebuke of Peter, urging him to focus on his own journey—specifically, to follow Him. Similarly, our responsibility isn’t to concern ourselves with God’s will for others but to prioritize FOLLOWING THE LORD personally.

Bible Reading of the Day

AM – Ezra 6-8

PM – John 21

𝕿𝖎𝖙𝖑𝖊: 𝕺𝖚𝖗 𝕱𝖔𝖈𝖚𝖘 𝖎𝖓 𝕱𝖔𝖑𝖑𝖔𝖜𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝕷𝖔𝖗𝖉

𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝟐𝟏:𝟐𝟏,𝟐𝟐 𝐊𝐉𝐕

𝑷𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒐 𝑱𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒔, 𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒅, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒅𝒐? 𝑱𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒔 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒎, 𝑰𝒇 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆, 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒆? 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖 𝒎𝒆.

Peter looked around and saw John, then shifted his focus from himself to ask Jesus about John’s future. He had not yet learned that every person must face God individually. Regardless of what happened to John, God’s plan for Peter remained unchanged. Jesus explained to Peter that His plan for John did not affect the instructions given to Peter. If Jesus intended for John to live until His return, that wouldn’t alter Peter’s duty to follow Jesus faithfully.

Peter learned a valuable lesson from his encounter with Lord Jesus Christ. In 𝟏 𝕻𝖊𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝟒:𝟏𝟓, he warns, “𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒍𝒆𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒖𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒎𝒖𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒓, 𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒆𝒇, 𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒍𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒓, 𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒃𝒖𝒔𝒚𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒎𝒆𝒏’𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔.” When Peter asked Jesus about John, saying, “Lord, and what shall this man do?” (𝕵𝖔𝖍𝖓 𝟐𝟏:𝟐𝟏), Jesus responded, “𝑰𝒇 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆, 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒆? 𝑭𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖 𝒎𝒆” (v. 22). Essentially, Jesus was telling Peter, “Why does it matter to you what John does? That is not your concern. Your role is to follow Me.”

Here, we observe how the Lord’s words can sometimes be misunderstood. Some who heard this story reported that Jesus claimed John would not die, but that’s not accurate. Jesus was emphasizing that whether John died or not wouldn’t affect Peter. It’s important to understand Jesus’ words correctly and avoid reading into them anything He didn’t intend. We must be careful not to add to or diminish from God’s Word.

Jesus stayed focused and unaffected by minor details. When asked about paying tribute to Caesar, dividing an inheritance, or why a Jew would ask a Samaritan for a drink, He always concentrated on the main point.

The Lord Jesus Christ emphasized that 🆁🅸🆅🅰🅻🆁🆈 🅰🅽🅳 🅲🅾🅼🅿🅴🆃🅸🆃🅸🅾🅽 🆂🅷🅾🆄🅻🅳 🅷🅰🆅🅴 🅽🅾 🅿🅻🅰🅲🅴 🅸🅽 🆂🅴🆁🆅🅸🅽🅶 🅷🅸🅼. Such competition is incompatible with God’s work. Churches should operate in ways that allow each believer to use their God-given gifts. Ultimately, God will unite everything. We are not in competition with others and do not need to fight for a position. Every believer has a role, not just preachers. The Holy Spirit has given each of us talents that shape our ministry.

We should resist being distracted by irrelevant issues. As the scripture says, “…𝖜𝖍𝖆𝖙 𝖎𝖘 𝖙𝖍𝖆𝖙 𝖙𝖔 𝖙𝖍𝖊𝖊? 𝕱𝖔𝖑𝖑𝖔𝖜 𝖙𝖍𝖔𝖚 𝖒𝖊.” Therefore, our focus must remain on our own duties and following the Lord. We cannot truly follow the Lord if we remain preoccupied with the actions or inactions of others. As 𝕻𝖗𝖔𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖇𝖘 𝟐𝟎:𝟑 states, “ℑ𝔱 𝔦𝔰 𝔞𝔫 𝔥𝔬𝔫𝔬𝔲𝔯 𝔣𝔬𝔯 𝔞 𝔪𝔞𝔫 𝔱𝔬 𝔠𝔢𝔞𝔰𝔢 𝔣𝔯𝔬𝔪 𝔰𝔱𝔯𝔦𝔣𝔢: 𝔟𝔲𝔱 𝔢𝔳𝔢𝔯𝔶 𝔣𝔬𝔬𝔩 𝔴𝔦𝔩𝔩 𝔟𝔢 𝔪𝔢𝔡𝔡𝔩𝔦𝔫𝔤.”