Do You Also Want To Go Away?

 

"From that time many of His disciples went back

and walked with Him no more."

John 6:66

Jesus had given a difficult teaching on being the Bread of Life. Many of His disciples had heard the teaching and didn't fully understand it, in fact they were shocked by His claims. These who were said to be followers of Jesus walked away from Him when they didn't like what He said. As His disciples departed, Jesus didn't call them to return or water down His statements, instead He solidified His teaching by turning to the twelve and asking if they too wanted to leave. To their credit they didn't leave as Peter responded "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." As an aside, it has always fascinated me that this verse describing Jesus' disciples walking away from Him is John.... 6:66!

I love Peter's confident stance with Jesus, and my hunch is most of you, if you could picture yourself there on that day, would place yourselves alongside the bold fisherman saying amen. We are now living in days in which you don't have to delve into your imagination to take such a stance. More and more the teachings of the Bible are being attacked and mocked as being out of date, ignorant, irrelevant, even bigoted and hateful. Jesus' word clearly leads us against the main stream of our culture. His word may even come against our own feelings or desires. I've even witnessed too many Christians treating God's word like their iPods, downloading the verses they like and deleted those they don't. The issue for us is the same as it was for Peter and the twelve, it's not about us fully grasping it or even liking the word, it's about who spoke the word.

For a long time I have seen our culture in a slow steady move from Biblical morality. That movement is still steady but it is no longer slow, it is nearing a full sprint. To stand for Christ and for His word is not in vogue, and the pressure to walk from Him is bound to increase. God has placed upon us the high call to stand with Jesus and believe on His word. Will you walk from Him? I pray that we will all stand with Him, for where else can we go, He alone has the words of eternal life!