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Are you coming or not?
In the book of John (chapter 6) it records a moment where Jesus is teaching. The people listening are the crowds of folk who had been following him around the countryside hanging on his every word! As the chapter nears to a close we read that Jesus starts to make some bold statements about himself and that he is the source and sustainer of real life. Jesus certainly was not interested in just teaching religion, morality, or being a 1st century life coach. No, not at all!
The Christian faith is not about a set of isolated beliefs and doing isolated religious activity. The Christian faith is about knowing and trusting in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ the Son of God. Everything operating outside of that is dead, empty, meaningless religion or atheism. In verse 60 of that chapter we read that many of the people "following" Jesus did not like what he said:
"When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this?"
The story continues that after this many of these people turned back and no longer walked with him. Jesus then addresses the closest of his followers and asks "Do you want to go away as well?" The response, from a man called Peter, is "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God".
There comes a point in any search that you have to ask... what do I know? I might not like what I know, it might cost me a lot or indeed everything, it might mean things are going to change....but in my heart I have come to know that Jesus is the Holy One of God. If that is you then I believe Jesus is wanting to speak to you and say "are you coming or not?". It is decision time. Do you want to turn back and follow no longer? Or rather do you know, your response is: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God".
If that's you then you need to keep following and find other followers who can walk alongside you. In other words find a local church, hopefully it should be full of active followers! If you need help in any of this then please contact me, or just let me know you have done it anyway as this will encourage me also.
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4. Are you coming or not? |