This is a concern we have for people we care about.
Many people pass through religion
and church with their eyes only have gazed on the truth of faith, ever waiting
to turn their attention to present day spirituality.
We have a desire that those whom we know,
love and care about will want to believe in God and have a desire to follow in the
footsteps of the faith.
There is an
internal recognition that God exists, that the Lord Jesus is present… and yet
people, especially young people, can have difficulty grappling with the
perplexity and confusion and doubts that go along with the building up of their
faith. There is a
mysterious ability for some to talk themselves out of believing by allowing
their puzzlement to grasp hold and consume the desire of faith.
Theologian Donald
Baille said, “You can go on bravely in the path of duty and purity and
love.
So much of Christ is plain to you,
and so far you can follow him with your eyes wide open.
And if you are perplexed about this or that,
Christ says, “What is that to you, Follow me.”
I
know that the perplexities of the world create confusion in your faith… and
sometimes you get stuck in your belief… when that happens…
set your mind on Jesus, he says, Follow Me.
Some time ago, my boys were playing Monopoly.
They next morning it was on the
floor, so I said to my son, “Can you pick up the Monopoly game?” And he said, “What about my brother?”
That was Peter’s response when called by Jesus. Peter has been issued a challenge
to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Follow
me, Christ says.
Peter could have said you know I
love you Lord and you know I will follow you to the ends of the earth.
Or, Yes, I will follow you, what would you
have me do for you.
Or even better, tell
me how to follow you, how am I to feed you lambs and tend your sheep.
Instead, his response to Christ
challenge is to begin talking about the other person present.
You want me to follow you Jesus. What
about him?
What about John?
What about that other guy? Is he going to be with you?
Is John going to be part of your ministry and
church forever?
Is John supposed to
follow you like me?
Shouldn’t he be
challenged to serve you as much as I am being challenged
Jesus, tell
me what is going to happen to him.
What
commitment is he going to have to make?
Donald Baille said we have a lesson to learn here, “Don’t
worry about what other people are doing, follow Christ.”
There are so many ways people try to evade Christ’s
challenge to follow him. Some begin
to compare their faith and belief with others and say I’ll never have faith
like that, and so it becomes much easier to stay in a cycle of mediocre belief. Others
point to the faults of Christians and the people of faith who have fallen in
life and it allows them to make an excuse as to why they should not follow
Christ themselves. Some do not
follow Christ because to do so would require a drastic change in their
lives. They might even have to
reconfigure their priorities.
I read recently a very sad
statistic, 85% of high school students stop going to church when they go off to
college and less than 15% will ever return.
The message we need to give to young people and ourselves is: Don’t
worry about what other people are doing, follow Christ.
Donald Baille wrote, “There is
nothing on earth greater than the Church.
It is part of the very essence of the gospel.
Its fellowship is near the heart of the
Christian life.
Life is the
living out of faith. Christ says follow
me. Don’t just be a member of the Church, be a follower of
Christ.
It is a timeless message. The Lord
Jesus came and said, follow me.
Feed my lambs, tend my sheep, go forth and proclaim the
Gospel, baptize people in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy
Spirit. The role of
the church is to make the church alive in the lives of people. For the sole purpose of providing an
opportunity for some to hear the call of Jesus, to hear the voice of Christ
say, “Follow Me.”
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