Following from a distance

Peter has seen lame walk. He's seen blind see. He's witnessed demons completely take over a man and cast out by the mere words of Jesus. He has seen thousands fed with just a small basket of food. He has seen dead raised. He was in the boat when Jesus commanded the storm to stand still.  Peter has seen it all from his master, Jesus of Nazareth.
But one night, he seemed to forget all of this. When Jesus was betrayed by judas, and taken captive to be crucified, fear struck Peter. The once bold disciple of Jesus who had just hours before told Jesus that he would never deny him and that he would die for him, had left his masters side. We find this in Luke chapter 22. This chapter says that Peter "followed from a distance." This led to Peter denying that he even knew Jesus. Not once, but 3 times.

I can't help but wonder how many Christians that are "following from a distance." They have lost their passion and zeal for The Lord, and fear has a stronghold on them. They don't stand up for what they believe in. I wonder, how many are "following from a distance." Maybe you once were, like Peter, relentlessly chasing after Jesus, following closely wherever he went, but somewhere along the way, distance grew between. Somewhere along the way you began to "follow from a distance."

I don't know what may be causing this seperation, but I can tell you this: it doesent have to end there! You see, in Acts chapter 2, this same Peter that denied Jesus and followed from a distance, is the same person that stands before thousands of unbelievers and boldly shares the passion of Jesus. What's the difference? Yes, the emboldening of the Holy Spirit, but something else is different as well. The distance between him and Jesus. Although Jesus ascended to heaven and was farther away than ever, Peter chose to close the distance. He no longer followed from a distance, but chose to walk as close as he could. Fear no longer had any chains. He made up his mind that he would never deny Jesus again. He made up his mind that it didn't matter what the world threw at him, he would follow Jesus as close as he could.

As we remember this day aome 2000 years ago when Jesus was arrested in the garden, dont make the same mistake that Peter made by follwoing from a distance. Learn from his mistake, and boldly follow as close as you can. This is the cry of my heart this Easter season. To follow Jesus as closely as possible. I refuse to go by the status quo of following from a distance. I will stretch myself to get as close as I can.

Psalm 42:1 "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God."

"You..."

Luke 9:13 "YOU give them something to eat."

In Luke 9, Jesus is teaching a huge crowd. As the day begins to slip by, the disciples suggest that Jesus should let the people go find somewhere to sleep and to get food. Jesus looks at them, and simply said, "You give them something to eat." The disciples looked at how impossible it was, and replied that they only had 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread. But Jesus saw a miracle in the making.

The disciples looked at how impossible the situation was, instead of who was telling them to do the impossible. As Christians, disciples of Christ, followers of the Way, we come into contact with helpless situations everyday. We come into contact with them wether we know it or not. So many times we will see an impossible situation and suggest that God do something. We suggest actions that he needs to take. We dwell on the impossible instead of who tells us to do the impossible. We see a need in our church family and dwell on how impossible it is, counting yourself out from helping. When God could be saying "you...". We know of someone that is spiritually lost, so we suggest that God bring someone in his way to share the gospel with him, when God could be saying, "You..."

It is so easy to count ourselves out from giving ourselves away. But a real genuine disciple will look for ways to give his life away for Gods sake. Stop looking at needs and impossible situations as just that; impossible. Start looking at them as if your God is really the God of the impossible. If we really believed that "with God, all things are possible." Then why don't we live like it? We would see a broken man on the side of the road as a Missionary just waiting to receive his calling from his savior he hasn't met yet. We would see drug dealers and criminals as gospel sharers and preachers waiting to know about it. We would stop seeing women selling themselves for sex as whores and start seeing them as women that will change the world when they hear what true love is by the sacrifice of our Savior. The mindset of the impossible can hinder us from doing Gods will. Don't look at how impossible the situation is, start looking at who is the God of the impossible.

Why has there been a lack of miracles in our society today? We walk away from "impossible" situations saying "that's too bad. I'm sorry to hear that." Instead of standing up boldly proclaiming "my God is the God of the impossible!" Do you believe it? Your actions will show you wether you do or not. NOTHING is impossible for God. He created the universe out of nothing, remember? :) What "impossible" situation is God saying "You..." In?

Psalm 42:1 "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God."