FOLLOWING JESUS EVEN IN THE HARD TIMES

“So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?”

Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go?

You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed,

And have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

John 6:68

Following Jesus can be very difficult at times.  As He was coming closer to the end of His mission the teachings got more serious and more intense.  Many of those who followed Him found them “too hard” and stopped following Him.  Then He ask His twelve disciples and Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go?”  He acknowledges that Jesus was most certainly his Lord and that He was the Holy One of God.  Though the teachings were hard they would still continue to follow Him and obey His teachings.

I believe we are in those serious times when it will be clear who the true followers of Jesus are.  There are many who claim to follow Him but as things get harder and more difficult they will leave.  I want to be counted among Peter and the other eleven for I too would ask, “Lord, to whom shall I go?”  It’s clear to me through my life experience that the world has no answers and holds no promises, so it is futile to follow its ways; they will lead to destruction.

But that doesn’t make it easy.  Some times Jesus teachings fly in the face of human reason; especially in the times and circumstances that face the world now.  There are people who hate and are willing and able to kill in response to that hate, even to the point of sacrificing their lives to commit these deeds of destruction.  Jesus’ words are as true today as they were when He spoke them.  “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.  But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who spitefully use you and persecute you”

(Matt. 5:43,44).  This makes no human sense.  This is a hard thing to do.  But Jesus’ teachings are no longer an option for me so I must follow and obey.

The one thing that helps me is found in the reasoning Jesus gives.  “That you may be children of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust” (Matt. 5:45).

After all the problems God has had with the people He created, He still continues to provide life for them.  That is amazing to me.  So I have no other choice that to trust in God’s Way.  I still don’t find it easy, and at times I fail.  But I always come back to the Sovereign God whose thoughts and ways are not mine, but are much higher.  I look to the examples given to me in the Bible; Stephen, the Apostles, Paul, and so many more who face their enemies with no defense and glorified God in their deaths as they did in their live.  I want that kind of commitment to consume my mind, heart, and spirit.  I want that kind of peace to consume my mind heart, and spirit.