Mind Your Own “Bee’s Wax”

“Peter seeing him (John) 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.”  John 21:21-22

The time was growing short when Jesus would ascend back to His Father in heaven, and He would leave assignments and missions for His eleven disciples. (Remember that Judas Iscariot was no longer numbered among the living by his own hand because of his betrayal of Jesus.  The disciples elected another disciple named Matthias to fill that twelfth position after Jesus went back to His Father.  Acts 1:26).  Peter became curious about what Jesus had in mind for John to do and expressed his curiosity to Jesus.  Jesus pretty much told Peter to mind his own business, in a loving way, of course.  John would have his work to do and so would Peter.

I thought about this verse strangely enough when I was painting my front steps.  The old paint had been coming off in pieces and disappearing.  I couldn’t figure out what was happening to it until one day I saw a sight that I wouldn’t have believed unless I had seen it.  A squirrel was scratching off the paint and eating it!  That must have been one desperate squirrel.  It apparently didn’t kill him because he returned and ate some more paint.

I spent many hours scraping off as much of the old paint as I could in preparation to repaint the steps.  When I gathered my paint, paint brush, and a cushion for my knees, I began first with a primer and the final coat.  Now what I want to know is, what is it with bugs and fresh paint?  It seems that paint attracts them and brings out their curiosity.  They want to get right in the middle of my painting, but sometimes it’s to their detriment.  They get stuck in the wet paint, and then they’re a “goner”.  I feel like telling them to “mind their own business”, and then they wouldn’t be in that situation.  There’s plenty of other places to which they could travel and not get involved in my task.

This is a simple story, but, like these bugs, many of us have a tendency to stick our nose in other people’s business or fret because someone else has a better position or assignment than we do.  This is also true in our service for the Lord.  We might become a little envious because someone else is assigned what we believe is a more important task than ours.  I don’t think God views any service to Him as insignificant.  Everyone is given different talents and abilities, and when we work together with each contributing his or her part, then God’s kingdom prospers.  God cares way more about our obedience than our idea of what is more important or less important.  All that we do for Him is important.  As has been said, “We are Jesus’ hands and feet upon this earth.”  Of course God could accomplish whatever He desires without us, but I think it is pretty neat that God includes us in His kingdom work.

Let’s don’t end up hurting ourselves or our witness in trying to outdo our brothers and sisters in Christ.  Serving Christ is not a competition.