There Is Only One 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.'” John 21:21-22 The context: Jesus had just finished telling Peter the kind of suffering he would experience later in his life. So Peter pointed to John and asked what would be his fate? And Jesus pretty much answered him, "That is none of your business, you just follow me." People have made all kinds of comments on this passage of Scripture suggesting that maybe the apostle John may never have died. They are missing the point entirely. Jesus wasn't saying that. The meaning of this passage is that we are NOT, EVER, to compare ourselves to someone else. If you're a teacher, you are NOT to compare yourself to other teachers. If you're a singer, you must never envy someone who sings better than you do. If you're a writer, your focus must NOT be to make it onto the world's best-seller list. Once you start down that road, you lose the power in your calling. You may sing just as well, or write just as well, or teach just as well ...but now that you're comparing yourself to someone else, you can no longer hear the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit, because the Spirit of God is NOT going to lead you to compete with someone else. YOUR WORKS were pre-planned long before you ever came into this world. "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, WHICH GOD PREPARED BEFOREHAND that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:10 So if you're trying to do someone else's work, or if you're trying to do better than someone else, you're insulting the very Lord you think you're serving. Only in this generation has DNA been discovered. DNA is the genetic code from which all are made. Your genetic code is totally individual to YOU. There are more than 7 billion people on this earth, but there is not another one like you. Before you ever came into the world, God had you in mind. He designed you. He endowed you with gifts and talents unique to yourself. He fashioned your personality. He chose a life-time plan for you, a purpose that only you can fulfill. The most important thing you can do in life, after salvation of course, is to seek him, to seek to know from him what that plan consists of, and how and where and under what conditions you are to embrace it. Your whole purpose in life is to glorify your Creator in the specific way he has chosen for you. Then, and only then, will your life have both present and eternal purpose. God will provide you a platform upon which to function, he will choose whom he will touch through you. If it be to only one person on the earth, only you can fulfill it, or whether it be to multitudes, only you can fulfill the call. He will choose your path, your job, your career, your interests and hobbies, even your family! No one else can fill your shoes. NO ONE. Pray with me: Father God, how silly we are when we compare ourselves with others who may have similar callings. We lose sight that you are the CREATOR of each of us, and that each has his own purpose which no one else can fill. Please forgive me Lord, for wishing I were like someone else who I consider better at it than myself. Please never, EVER, let me lose sight of my unique standing before you my Creator, you who alone have chosen every detail of my makeup, my work, AND my audience, whether it be at work or with friends, even with family, with the one or with the many. Oh Lord, let me glorify you in the walk you have chosen for me, with my eyes on you ALONE. If I fumble and fall, please let me remember that you knew that was going to happen before it ever happened, and that in you there is mercy and forgiveness. I thank you for the assurance in your Word in which you say "the gifts and callings of God are without repentance." Thank you for being there even when I fail you. And thank you for picking me up and dusting me off and putting my feet back on the path you have chosen for me. I love you, Lord. With all my heart.