WITH OR WITHOUT?

DAY 234 OF 365 IN 2021

John 6:67-68 Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?  Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.

Whenever a decision is made to jump ship, it is expected that the transition is upwards and positive. In other words, ‘every conscious decision to change should have at its heart the desire to produce elevation or upliftment in status, it must show that one has made progress and not retrogressed. Hence, whether it in  moving to another job, relationship, or organisation, in the very least, the expectation is that it is a step up from where one previously was.

After a very ‘hard message’ in today’s Gospel, many abandoned Jesus. Thus, He offers the twelve He had chosen the chance to jump ship and join another team of their choice if they wanted to. Simon Peter responds with “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life”. In other terms, we don’t believe that a team without you in it is any better, so we choose to stay with you.

Jesus did not really provide the twelve with multiple options but actually only two: ‘with me or without me’. And the same question is thrown at us ‘with me or without me?’ It becomes obvious that walking with the Lord is no easy feat- there are things we are constrained from doing  and to make matters worse, there is the guarantee of trouble when Jesus said ‘in this world, you will have trouble’ (John 16:33).

Yet, there is also the reminder that ‘apart from me, you can do nothing’ (John 15:5). Therefore, as much as we might be tempted to believe we will do just fine by ourselves and without Him, we end up buying into lesser, weaker, and lower.

We certainly do have the choice to go with or without Jesus, but if offered, choose to complete your journey with Him. It makes it worthwhile. 

#sly