Others Can, You ... Not So Much

In our missionary glory days, we were privileged to host many ministers who came to teach in the Bible school we worked with. Like all good hostesses, I tried to remember different ministers' likes and preferences so that if they graced us with a second visit, I would be able to have things they liked on hand.

On one occasion, an unusual thing happened. A minister who had previously loved his cup of java in the morning eschewed drinking on this go round. Had I made a mistake in his drinking preferences? My husband and I were "social drinkers" back then--we only drank coffee when company came, so the coffee we made was not for us, it had been made specifically for our visiting minister. Only he didn't drink it. Imagine my surprise when he answered my query with, "Yes, I used to drink coffee. But one day I felt impressed that the Lord was telling me not to drink it anymore." He smiled. "So I don't."

There is no commandment in the Bible telling us not to drink coffee, but this was something this pastor felt God told him personally. He did not know why. Was God delivering him from a disease that would develop if he continued drinking it? Was God simply testing his obedience? We might never know this side of Heaven, but it speaks highly of that minister that he obeyed, no questions asked.

When Auntie Trinie was new in the things of God, she read a tract entitled Others Can, You Cannot. There are things, she said to me as she summarized the gist of the tract, that God will tell one of His children that might be just for that person. For that reason we cannot judge others or hold them to account by what we feel God has told us to do or not do. For example, I felt called to the mission field in my early years. But not every one is called to minister in a foreign country. It would have been to my shame to think less of someone who remained stateside. (It goes without saying that things that are written in black and white in the Bible are not up for personal doing-away-with. I am referring to personal nudges from the Holy Spirit pertaining to things that are not specifically laid out in Holy Writ.)

In John 21, Jesus told Peter the kind of death that awaited him. The foretelling of the future is something that calls to our earthly man; it mesmerizes us; we yearn to hear about it. So it was only natural that that very earthy disciple, Peter, should get excited. This was awesome! Jesus was foretelling his future! Would He tell him about the other disciples? Bless his heart, he just couldn't contain himself. He just had to ask!

In verse 21 he asked the Lord what would happen to John. Jesus answered, "If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me." From these words a lot of erroneous beliefs about John came about. People began to say, "Jesus said John's never going to die!" John addressed these errors in verse 23. He wrote, "Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?" Jesus was putting forth the principle of "What I say to you is for you. What I say to others should be none of your concern."

This can be extrapolated to the call on our lives. It's so easy to look at a "big" ministry and salivate, wishing your ministry was as well known. But why? What is your end goal? To be well known--or to follow and obey the path that God has laid out for you?

In the chapter of the Heroes of Faith, Hebrews 11, many well-known Bible characters are praised. But in verses 36-38 there are nameless ones whose path many today would despise. "They were stoned ... destitute, afflicted, tormented" (verse 37). And yet God says of them in verse 38, "of whom the world was not worthy." What greater praise can we aspire to than this unqualified praise from the mouth of God?

What others do, that is between them and God. That is their call. But as for me, I want to follow Jesus, even if its only in anonymity in my little corner of the world. To walk where He would have me walk. To talk where He would have me talk. To do what He would have me do, even if there is no worldly acclaim to go along with it. I want to be one of those of whom He says, "of whom the world was not worthy"--because I follow Him, wherever He may lead.

"If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." (Matthew 16:24).