Do You Also Want To Go Away?

Some people are saying that they are “deconstructing” their faith. What they mean is that they are questioning everything and rejecting either their own faith or the faith in which they have been brought up. Although this may seem novel to some people, it isn’t anything new. “Deconstruction” is simply going away from the Lord – and people have been doing that ever since people started coming to Him.

I’m not going to try to address all the reasons people use for going away from Jesus. Instead, I’d rather talk about the one reason (and a related one reason) for not leaving Jesus, for not abandoning faith in Him.

In John 6, Jesus had just fed the 5000 with five loaves and two small fish. Although the people were amazed by this miracle, by morning they looked for Jesus to feed them again. When Jesus refused to feed them and insisted that they, “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life” (6:27), they started to leave Him. He also did some difficult teaching, “From that time many of His disciple went back and walked with Him no more” (6:66).

Do we feel the same way when Jesus doesn’t do or allow what we want or expect? Are we tempted to quit following Him if our physical life doesn’t meet our expectations? And what do we do when Jesus’ teaching is hard to understand, or hard to apply in life? “Do you also want to go away?” is what Jesus said to His apostles when He saw other people leaving Him – and that’s what He would ask us too.

Peter gave the only reason for not leaving Jesus when things are difficult: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God” (6:68-69).

The reason we continue to follow Jesus, the reason we continue worshipping and obeying is that there is no one else like Him. He is the Christ – the One proven to be chosen by God with miracles and the resurrection. He is truly God’s Son and as such is the only one who has “the words of eternal life.” So, who Jesus is affects who we are and our future. There isn’t anyone else, any other religion, or any other thing that can do this. And for this reason we won’t go away!   dd