John 21:18 “Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.”
This is Jesus speaking to Peter. Remember when you were a kid and you hated that everyone else got to tell you what you had to do and where you had to go and when you had to be there and you couldn’t wait to grow up so you do what you wanted? And then you grew up and between work and family and other obligations you still rarely got to choose your schedule. Jesus was letting Peter know that following him was going to send him places he would not ordinarily have chosen through people he wouldn’t normally befriend. And yet the implication is that this will all be better in the end than going the way of his own choosing. Our lives find meaning not in getting our own way but in giving ourselves away as Christ gave himself in life and death. Sometimes this means being led where we do not want to go to find the way to a new quality of life in Christ. This week, where are you being led?
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