“‘I tell you the truth, when you were young, you were able to do as you liked; you dressed yourself and went wherever you wanted to go. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and others will dress you and take you where you don’t want to go.’ Jesus said this to let him know by what kind of death he would glorify God. Then Jesus told him, ‘Follow me.’”
I’d run away from my own life more than once. But this time, at 27, I meant it. I filled a backpack with food, waited for low tide, and hiked down to a remote derelict cabin. I wanted to give up on everything, even on Jesus. I had chosen to follow him as a teenager, but life seemed to have gotten harder rather than easier. Maybe life would be better without him.
Who hasn’t “unfollowed” Jesus at some point? We’ve all distrusted him, even betrayed him, in ways large and small. We’ve all been like Peter at one time or another. Yet when his best friends abandoned him, Jesus wasn’t shocked or even angry. Instead, after his resurrection, he showed up with bread and fish.
What happened next in those moments around the fire reveals the astonishing power of the gospel. Peter was entirely forgiven of his faithlessness, his selfishness, his fear. And I am as well, and every one of us who has ever run away from the one who is our very life. This is the truth about following Christ: When Jesus said, “Come, follow after me,” it also meant that he would come after us. We tend to think it’s our responsibility to walk perfectly, to always know our way, but we don’t. We stumble, we faint, we take the wrong turn, and still he comes after us. He will walk on water to find us. He comes after us through storms, through fish, through doubt, through whatever seas we are sailing. Do you hear him? Come, follow me. Do not be afraid.
Reflect:
Read the full account of this event in John 21. How are you like Peter? Where do you struggle to follow Jesus?
Pray:
How have you seen God come after you when you have wandered? What blessings can you see that have come from that time of wandering? Where is he calling you to now?
While we pray for peace, we need moral clarity about this war.
As my doubts about his teachings grew, so did a secret fascination with Jesus.
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