Good morning,
Last week one of the men that I work with were talking about the timing of God’s work in our lives. While Jesus was talking with his disciples about his going away, Peter asked Jesus, "Lord, where are you going?” And Jesus replied, "You can't go with me now, but you will follow me later.”(John 13:36) Peter was shocked when Jesus told him that by that next morning he would deny three time he even knew Jesus. Jesus response to Peter clearly seemed to put Peter’s usefulness on hold, but could he be saying that for those of us serving our Lord today. The answer to that question may be linked to something that the Lord is now beginning to show me about the love of God. Part of God’s love for us is based on serving those he has created. The cross and the resurrection that we celebrate this weekend is all about God’s Son being willing to come and live in a human body, experience the power of sin, always master it and then go to the cross to pay the full penalty for all of our sins as a willing love gift to us. This gift is for all those who would willingly repent of their sins and accept Jesus as Savior and Lord of their lives. After waiting thousands of years to come, he then had to wait another 30 years before he could begin his public ministry. Only then did Jesus begin a public ministry that led to his eternal triumph over the power that sin held over all those who were and would be born and live as sinners.
God’s plan for us is always perfectly timed. For those of us who start out as sinners, the process is necessarily different. We must come to a time in life when we become genuine children of God and then we can begin the process of doing things to love others like Jesus did. Our sin teaches us to survive the effects of the control and fear of others to get on in life. God’s love does not use others, it serves other. As fearful, self centered individuals, we are learning to love God’s way. At first, we still want the people around us to like us or not hurt us and our goal is survival, nor serving others. As we grow in our love for God, we learn to trust Him and not those around us for the guidelines of loving service. It takes time for us to go through the failures and successes that teach us how God’s love works in our lives. Only when we have the right focus will we be able to have the right outcome to our service for God in our life here on earth. God uses us right from the beginning, but for us to be stable enough to lead others, we need the control and focus of God’s love at work in us to become more and more effective. Isaiah wrote, LORD, we show our trust in you by obeying your laws; our heart's desire is to glorify your name.(Isaiah 26:8) Dear Lord, please help us who are willing to serve to also be willing to wait for your timing on when and where we serve according to your perfect plan for each of us.
John 13:36 Simon Peter asked, "Lord, where are you going?” And Jesus replied, "You can't go with me now, but you will follow me later."
Roy Wisner
