DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- FOLLOWING JESUS

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – FOLLOWING JESUS

"Therefore, many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, 'This is a hard saying; who can understand it?'......From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more." (John 6:60, 66)

It was a troubling teaching from Jesus – a hard saying. He had just finished saying, " 'Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him' " (John 6:53-56). It was a difficult thing for the listeners to understand. They questioned, " 'How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?' " (vs. 52). It sounded like cannibalism, and many quit following Him.

All of Jesus' teachings are necessary food, but not all of Jesus' teachings are easy to swallow (pardon the pun). When He says to take up our cross and follow Him, we say, "Who wants a cross?" When he says that we will suffer for His name sake, we recoil because we don't want to suffer. When He says to forsake family to follow Him, that does not sound appealing.

But they are a part and parcel of what it means to follow Christ. He never promised us a rose garden. He did not offer us an easy life. His word says to endure hardship as good soldiers (II Timothy 2:3). Does that sound like positive thinking?

Many people become disillusioned with the Christian life because they have been given wrong expectations. Some evangelists say, "Accept Jesus and He will solve all your problems." We need to remember the words of Peter when Jesus asked if the disciples would also turn away. His response was, "To whom else shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (vss. 67-69). The promise of eternal life outweighs any material blessing or suffering we may experience in this life. That is the proper perspective that will keep us faithful through difficult times. Only Jesus will get us to heaven. His promise is that He will be with us the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). That is enough.

Love, Dad