As I sit here this morning, looking out the window at the glorious sunlight filtering through, my thoughts are on the message Pastor preached yesterday. Are you following Jesus from a far? I have been thinking about this since yesterday and God brought some things to my mind.
How closely are we willing to follow Jesus? Are we willing to do whatever He asked us to do? Are we willing to give up anything He wants us to give up? Do we seek Him daily in our lives, are we offended by what He is offended by? Or are we kind of careful in what we do for Him because we don't want anyone to make fun of us, we don't want anyone to feel like we think we're better than them, or maybe we still want to fit in with the crowd? God said if we are lukewarm He will spew us out of His mouth. We can't straddle the fence, so to speak, when we are living for God.
Peter loved Jesus, but not quite enough to follow Him closely. When Jesus was arrested and taken to Caiaphas (Matt. 26: 57), Peter followed Him from afar. Now Peter had just told Jesus, back in Matt. 26: 32-35, that He would never leave Him. Jesus told him that he would deny Him 3 times before that night was over and even then Peter said," Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you!" But Jesus knew he would.... So Peter stayed close enough that he could see Jesus from afar.....but not be involved. And 3 times that night, people recognized him from being with Jesus...and Peter denied him..... Do we want to follow Jesus from a distance? Are we afraid of what others will think of us? Are we more interested in fitting in with the crowd than we are interested in following Jesus closely? And if so, how can we be a witness to others when we ourselves don't even want to walk as close as we can for God?
We need to search ourselves, our lives, our hearts. We can't have it both ways. We can't serve God half heartedly and still expect Him to be there whenever we need Him. He's not our buddy, our genie in a bottle for whenever we need Him. He's our Creator, our Savior, our Provider. We have to be willing to give Him our whole heart. We have to be willing to follow Him closely. I will never reach a point where I feel like I have enough of God, or I don't need to go to Him with everything in my life, or I don't need to talk about Him or tell others about Him too much, or I have arrived.
My sweet Mother used to love to talk about Jesus. She would witness to anyone who would listen to her tell her story, tell what God had done for her, and worship Him. Even up until the day God called her home, she loved the Lord and she followed Him closely.
I don't want to follow Him from a distance.....I want to walk as close as I can to Him. He has been so good to me and I will never be ashamed of Him. Am I better than others? Absolutly not! Never have had that attitude and don't want it. When we stand before God.....it won't matter what kind of clothes we've worn, it won't matter how many degrees we have, it won't matter where we've worked or what our profession was, it won't matter what kind of house we've lived in, and it won't matter how much education we have. It won't matter how much money we have. We will stand before him with just what we have....ourselves, us, nothing more.
Do you want to follow Him from a distance? Or do you want to follow Him closely? ............. I want to be as close as I can be to God....
How closely are we willing to follow Jesus? Are we willing to do whatever He asked us to do? Are we willing to give up anything He wants us to give up? Do we seek Him daily in our lives, are we offended by what He is offended by? Or are we kind of careful in what we do for Him because we don't want anyone to make fun of us, we don't want anyone to feel like we think we're better than them, or maybe we still want to fit in with the crowd? God said if we are lukewarm He will spew us out of His mouth. We can't straddle the fence, so to speak, when we are living for God.
Peter loved Jesus, but not quite enough to follow Him closely. When Jesus was arrested and taken to Caiaphas (Matt. 26: 57), Peter followed Him from afar. Now Peter had just told Jesus, back in Matt. 26: 32-35, that He would never leave Him. Jesus told him that he would deny Him 3 times before that night was over and even then Peter said," Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you!" But Jesus knew he would.... So Peter stayed close enough that he could see Jesus from afar.....but not be involved. And 3 times that night, people recognized him from being with Jesus...and Peter denied him..... Do we want to follow Jesus from a distance? Are we afraid of what others will think of us? Are we more interested in fitting in with the crowd than we are interested in following Jesus closely? And if so, how can we be a witness to others when we ourselves don't even want to walk as close as we can for God?
We need to search ourselves, our lives, our hearts. We can't have it both ways. We can't serve God half heartedly and still expect Him to be there whenever we need Him. He's not our buddy, our genie in a bottle for whenever we need Him. He's our Creator, our Savior, our Provider. We have to be willing to give Him our whole heart. We have to be willing to follow Him closely. I will never reach a point where I feel like I have enough of God, or I don't need to go to Him with everything in my life, or I don't need to talk about Him or tell others about Him too much, or I have arrived.
My sweet Mother used to love to talk about Jesus. She would witness to anyone who would listen to her tell her story, tell what God had done for her, and worship Him. Even up until the day God called her home, she loved the Lord and she followed Him closely.
I don't want to follow Him from a distance.....I want to walk as close as I can to Him. He has been so good to me and I will never be ashamed of Him. Am I better than others? Absolutly not! Never have had that attitude and don't want it. When we stand before God.....it won't matter what kind of clothes we've worn, it won't matter how many degrees we have, it won't matter where we've worked or what our profession was, it won't matter what kind of house we've lived in, and it won't matter how much education we have. It won't matter how much money we have. We will stand before him with just what we have....ourselves, us, nothing more.
Do you want to follow Him from a distance? Or do you want to follow Him closely? ............. I want to be as close as I can be to God....
