I will follow Jesus no matter what the cost? Think again.
By
Jeff K. Clarke
Senior Editor and Staff Writer
|
January 8, 2017
When we make the declaration to follow Jesus ‘no matter what the cost,’ I wonder if we really know what we’re promising? I wonder if such a statement is oftentimes ‘made in the moment,’ without much thought as to what it actually entails? Do we really know how we will respond when faced with the most difficult challenges of life? Maybe it would do us all well to take a step back and reconsider our response.
I believe many of us, with very good intentions, promise to never abandon Jesus under any circumstances without really giving much thought as to what the possible implications are. It’s one thing to make this claim when we’re surrounded by other Christians, or when we’re sitting with close friends at our favorite coffee shop, inside of our safe suburban townships. However, things can change very quickly when we’re faced with real life and death situations that demand an immediate response.
For instance, when faced with persecution, and I don’t mean persecution as defined by our tempered experience of it in the West, but very real, life-threatening persecution that many people experience on a daily basis around the world. While we can hope our response would be positive, I’m not convinced we can know with absolute certainty how we would respond. In fact, I think there is a very real danger of being overly presumptuous when we make these “I’ll follow Jesus no matter what the cost” statements.
However, despite how we may feel today, we really have no idea what we will face tomorrow and whether that something may end up being the ‘tipping point’ that causes us to move away from God. And, for this very reason we should always remain hopeful without being too presumptuous.
Peter’s tipping-point moment
I’m reminded of Peter’s experience with Jesus shortly before His crucifixion.
When Jesus made the disturbing statement that one of his twelve disciples would later betray him and that all the others would soon abandon him, Peter was adamant he would never do such a thing. His thought was, “the others may bend to public pressure and walk away, but I never will.”
Of course, we know what happened.
While Peter never completely abandoned Jesus (He followed him from a distance), he did end up denying any relationship with Jesus when confronted about this relationship on three separate occasions – with one such confrontation coming from a child.
No doubt Peter had the very best of intentions. However, he didn’t know himself as well as he thought he did, certainly not as well as Jesus did, and ended up learning the hard way that being too presumptuous about his level of commitment to follow Jesus, no matter how difficult the circumstances may be, demonstrated how blind he was to his potential of walking away.
And, you know what? You and I are really no different from Peter. We may sometimes come down hard on Peter, and the other disciples as well, for abandoning Jesus when faced with difficult circumstances, but we are not that different from them.
The lesson here is that we are all equally subject to the possibility of walking away from Jesus. I know it’s a scary thought to entertain, but it’s true.
While I would never want to leave you with feeling that there’s no hope and that none of us have what it takes to hold on to Jesus when faced with life’s darkest challenges, there’s also a part of me that actually does want to leave you with that impression.
Why? Because…
I want us all to realize that we always require God to sustain us, in the good times, as well as the bad.
I want us all to realize that we need each other, as the body of Christ, to help each other walk through whatever challenges life presents us with. That having a Wonder Woman or a Superman mentality that believes we are impervious to the possibility of ever abandoning Jesus not only runs counter to the witness of scripture, but also communicates a level of arrogance we need to come to terms with.
Embracing our vulnerability
In the end, it seems that an honest and balanced approach that takes into consideration how vulnerable we all are to leaving God when faced with life’s most difficult challenges will prove to be the most beneficial perspective we can have.
I know it may sound counter-intuitive to think this way, but it makes sense. Not only do we have Peter’s example to help guide us toward embracing a better way forward, but we should also be more keenly aware of our own propensities as well.
When we daily commit our lives into God’s care and ask for the strength necessary to remain faithful to God through whatever circumstances we will face in life, we can be confident that his strength will remain perfect in our weakness.
By also understanding the pivotal role the Church should play in our lives, specifically related to our journey through difficult times, will help to equip us with the knowledge that we are in this thing together and need to rely on one another for strength and encouragement as we together rely on Christ.
So you see, there is a better way forward. And, the only thing we need to abandon is the belief that we will never abandon Christ, no matter what the costs may be.
We need to abandon our denial that we lack the capacity to abandon Jesus and instead embrace the truth that only God can provide the strength to hold on to him when we travel through difficult trials. Trials that will also require us to lean on one another as we journey together through life.
