“Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at the supper, and said, “Lord, who is the one who betrays You?” Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, “But Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.””
When Jesus said to Peter, “What is that to you? You Follow Me” He was basically say, “Peter, mind your own business.” And here we find that the third insight to rediscovering your purpose is that...
Minding Your Own Business Brings Focus to Your Purpose
I love Facebook. I do. As a matter of fact, I primarily us it for ministry and to catch up with friends that I grew up with or who live far away. Yet I’m finding Facebook to be one of the most distracting things in my life right now. Whether I’m in class, on the road or even in the bathroom, I feel like I just have to see what latest thing is happening with my friends on the news feed. Why do I feel like I just have to check every notification alert or message? It’s really addictive. And then you get caught up in the trap of comparing what’s going on in your life with what’s going on in the life of your friends. Then you start feeling like they’re doing more exciting things then you are. Or you start looking down on some of them because of some of the things they have gotten themselves caught up in. And all the while your wasting large amounts of time focused on the lives of others, when you should be focusing on what you need to be doing in your own life right now!
What you and I need to do is mind our own business! It’s enough just trying to be a committed follower of Jesus Christ yourself. What we’ve got to do is stop comparing ourselves with others. We need to stop trying to be like everybody else and being jealous of their gifts. Here is what we do. We say this person can really sing. I can’t sing like that. Or this person is really attractive. I don’t look like that. Or this person is a strong leader and people really listen to him. I want to be like that or I can’t do that. If that’s you, Jesus says to you today, “What is that to you? You follow Me!” I have made you the way you are for a purpose. I created you unique for a specific reason. If you want to unleash your fullest potential, then I need you to Follow Me.
Or maybe you’re the person who is trying to follow Jesus, but your distracted by all the “so called” hypocrites in the church. There is always room for one more. To you Jesus says, “What is that to you? You follow Me!” The church is a hospital for people who are sick with sin and are being healed by Jesus. Fix your eyes on Jesus! You’ve got to pursue your purpose in your own armor. Mind your own business and focus on sharing Christ the way He has designed you to. You’ve got to focus of Christ and how He wants to fulfill His purpose in you!
2000 years ago Jesus came with one central focus and purpose, to reveal the love of God and save us. Describing the intense focus of Jesus on His purpose, Luke describes it this way in Luke 9:51, “Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem.”
Jesus was focused. He wouldn’t be distracted from His mission. The Devil tried to stop Him from fulfilling His purpose, but he couldn’t. Then when they raised Him high on the cross, the Pharisees, one thief and the crowd all told Him to come down of the cross and save Himself. But He wouldn’t. Jesus was focused on saving you. On the cross Jesus was saying to you, “I will rather experience hell, complete separation from the Father, just so you can spend eternity with Him. Heaven wouldn’t be heaven for God without you. So He stayed focused and took your sins, your mistakes, your failures and absorbed them into Himself on the cross and died the death you should have died. But then early Sunday morning He rose from the grave, victorious over death and now He invites you to tell the world what He did for them! Jesus is calling this generation to rise up! He is calling you to rediscover your purpose. He is calling you to serve him from a heart of love that is responding daily to His love and forgiveness. He is calling you to follow Him by dying daily to your own selfish desires and then share Him with your friends. And finally He is calling you to focus on Him and His purpose for your life.
"CJ" CLAYPOLE S. COUSINS JR., IS SIMPLY A MAN WHO IS IN LOVE WITH JESUS. HIS PASSION IS TO LIVE, PREACH AND TEACH THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST. IN ADDITION TO PREACHING & TEACHING, CJ ALSO LOVES TO SING AND WRITE ABOUT JESUS.