Pastor’s Corner: “At a Distance”
Luke 22:54 (NKJV) – “So they arrested him and led him to the high priest’s home. And Peter followed at a distance”
Many Christians in America today want to follow Jesus at a distance. Especially in these crazy times of our culture where the decisions we are called to make as followers of Christ will stand out like a sore thumb. We want to give ourselves a little room; we want to watch which way the wind will blow and see what the end will be. When Jesus is portrayed in a good light or when it’s comfortable, then we will stand up there next to Him. But if Jesus is going to be mocked or cursed or insulted, we want to stay back until we know how things will go. We do not want to be lumped in with the Bible-thumping fanatics; to be labeled a “Jesus Freak.” 1 Corinthians 1:18 (NLT) – 18 The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.
After Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, Peter kept his distance. Peter followed the Lord, but he followed at a distance. And distance from the Lord in closeness and fellowship always will be at the foundation of all spiritual regression. So, if you can’t be happy in your sin, that’s a good sign. True believers are never happy when they’re out of fellowship with God. And if you’re out of fellowship with God, if you’ve sinned against the Lord, then you’ll be an unhappy person.
We see this in the life of David, the man after God’s own heart. He sinned big time. Then in Psalm 32, he described the way he felt: “When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long. Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat” (verses 3–4 NLT). David had been following at a distance.
When the enemy looks for a Christian to take down, he looks for the one who’s following at a distance, the straggling sheep. He looks for the person who says, “Do we have to go to church again? Didn’t we do that last week? Read the Bible? Really? Again?”
Children of God hunger for these things. Compromisers on the other hand, only do them out of duty. And if no one is encouraging them to do these things, then they don’t do them. If you’re following the Lord at a distance, you will end up in the miserable no-man’s-land of compromise. And in that dismal place you will have too much of the Lord to be happy in the world, and too much of the world to be happy in the Lord.
Have you been following Jesus at a distance? Walking far enough behind that you can still see Him but others don’t see you right next to Him? What is one tangible step you could take to start walking closer with Jesus today?
In His Grace,
Pastor Hamilton