One day Peter looked at John and said to Jesus, ‘What about him, Lord?’ Jesus immediately rebuked Peter and said, ‘that is not your business. You follow me’ (John 21:21-22 NCV). All of us can find ourselves interfering in other people’s business sometimes. We like to get involved in things and know what’s going on. We should still be helping others, that’s a great thing for us to do, but we need to avoid interfering in things that don’t concern us. Sometimes we can jump in and try to solve people’s problems without being asked. And that doesn’t always end well. People can resent our interference, and we can end up stuck in a situation we should never have been part of in the first place. Jesus’ words to Peter are ‘you follow me’. We need to be focused on the journey that God’s called us on, the one unique to us. We need to be ready to help those who need us, but we need to be more focused on the way we’re going than the way everyone else is going. This stops us interfering, and it also stops us comparing. Not interfering goes beyond not stepping in to fix things, it means not eavesdropping, gossiping, talking behind people’s backs, and needing to figure everybody out. The only thing we can change about others is our attitude towards them. Paul writes, ‘We hear that some people in your group refuse to work. They do nothing but busy themselves in other people’s lives. We command those people and beg them in the Lord Jesus Christ to work quietly and earn their own food’ (2 Thessalonians 3:11-12 NCV). Are you prepared to stop interfering, and get on quietly with the things God’s called you to do?

What Now?

Each morning, ask God to help you focus on your own journey, and to show you the people He wants you to help.