Then He said to him, “Follow Me!” Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is going to betray you?”) When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow Me.” -John 21:19a-22
Life is complicated…or is it? There is a saying: “Men makes plans and God laughs”. Our minds are constantly spinning, formulating this plan or that. We think that we are actually in control when the truth is that we can’t even be sure if we will still be breathing 5 minutes from now. We plan, strive and at times try to manipulate, yes I said it- manipulate-people, circumstances, time- everything. But manipulation has nothing to do with what God intended. In John 21 Peter noticed that John was following he and Jesus, He became distracted from what Jesus told him: “FOLLOW ME”, and so again the Lord instructed him: “YOU FOLLOW ME”.
This speaks personally and clearly to me…if I’m not careful my life and activities can be dominated by self-imposed complications, when what I really need to do is quite simple: follow Yeshua (Jesus), first, foremost and at all times. To emulate and imitate Him. Jesus didn’t move until He spent time in prayer-listening to the Father and then doing what Abba instructed Him to do, and therefore I must do likewise. So what about all the other stuff? “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble”. –Matthew:6:31-34. So it’s back to the “simplicity of a child” for me. To the feet of Yeshua I choose to lay everything and take advantage of the amazing privilege of being in His Presence. I choose simplicity over complication, as I hear Him say: “Follow Me”.