Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: DISTANCE (10/08/20)
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TITLE: Hiding or Following? | Previous Challenge Entry
By Donna Martelli
10/14/20 -
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Why did Peter follow Jesus at a distance? I can see him skulking around just outside Jesus’ visual range, or so he thought. He did this when “Those who had arrested Jesus took him to Caiaphas the high priest, where the teachers of the law and the elders had assembled.” (Matthew 26:57 NIV)
Peter clearly wanted to see what would happen and how it would affect him. What if they killed Jesus? What if they let Him go? If He were truly God’s Son, how could this be happening? Peter was scared and he was hiding. He did not want anyone know that he was a follower of Jesus.
Peter still did not understand what Jesus had told him: that He would be delivered to His enemies who would crucify Him, bury Him, and after three days He would rise, alive again! Peter did not realize that this had to be. It was the reason that Jesus left His home in Heaven in the first place. He had to suffer the death penalty that sin carries, and He paid it off by taking the sin of the world upon Himself. He rose to give eternal life with Him in Heaven to anyone who would accept His payment for their sin. Anyone!
There are people today who watch Jesus from a distance. They see His people and they watch them. Like Peter, they observe them from afar, hiding behind doors or walls, hoping that no one notices them. They are not sure that this Jesus is really the Son of God. They look for reasons to believe, and not to believe.
Are you keeping your distance from Jesus? What are you looking for? What more do you need to believe? It is highly likely that people in your life are praying for you to take a step of faith and trust Him. Let him take your sin and free you from the weight of it and from its penalty. He loves you and wants you to come to Him. You can’t get away from Him. Consider what David wrote:
“Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?” (Psalm 139:7 NKJV)
There is another kind of distance we could be keeping from Jesus. Let’s say we do belong to Him, but we are not doing what He wants us to do. Or maybe there is something that we must leave behind, but we hesitate. We are shortchanging ourselves and others if that is so.
Christianity is not a part-time thing. To quote Christine Caine, we have to be “all in.” Come on, let’s be “all in” with Jesus, following Him, loving Him, obeying Him, and trusting Him with our lives. Only then will we experience the abundant life that He promised us.
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