Wherever He Leads…
Neil at “Christ in Y’all” has written an excellent piece called “Following Jesus“. He recounts how the disciples who lived with Jesus followed him all around the area of Palestine. Then he says:
But is it really any different for us? We don’t wander Palestine on foot, following an itinerant preacher up and down dusty roads. But as I really try to know the Lord Jesus well, I find that He never stagnates because He never sits still. The way I knew Him in the past remains precious to me, but I know in my heart that there’s always more. There are more places He wants to take me. There are more sides to Him that I can know. But I should expect a journey into the unfamiliar.
I know that there’s something in human nature that craves the familiar. The controlled. The predictable. I’ve got that in me, too. But imagine living in a vast and beautiful territory for years without ever leaving a one square mile plot. What a waste that would be. That’s what God is like. He means for us to discover those valleys and mountains, rivers, and deserts.
Do you find yourself craving the safe, the familiar, the stagnant, the controlled? Is this a desire birthed by the Spirit of God or by your own spirit?
This is a very challenging post. Are you following Jesus? Where is he leading you today?
Alan,
Our journey hasn’t been as smooth as we’d thought it would be. I think that we had romanticized the thought of being on a journey with Jesus – always the great adventure, full of excitement and thrills, and being on the top of a mountain above everything else.
The reality is different – stopping where we didn’t want to stop, moving just when we’d gotten comfortable, walking down and amongst the situations we’d rather avoid, and often having nothing exciting to report back to people.
But, we wouldn’t trade this journey for anything. Sure, we’ve had to adjust our expectations, but we’ve had a richer journey since we did.
Alan,
I appreciated the youthful enthusiasm and idealism in Neil’s comments, also the balance which came from Mary.
What great days they were when my wife, family and I, full of those traits which are so important, began the larger journey of which Neil speaks.
From where we sit now, we consider what has been, WITHOUT ANY REGRETS, but we are also forced to face the fact that our zeal, enthusiasm and idealism needed to be balanced with a healthy realism.
We moved out of the comfortable “square mile plot”, and as Neil suggested, went where we were led.
A closer look at the life of Jesus and His disciples reveal a life of much wounding, discomfort,and apparent failure.
Without wanting to discourage anyone in any way, every twist in the journey of true disciples of today will reveal some great and exciting things, but, from time to time, as Jesus and the disciples experienced,standing across the path are some ferocious giants capable of causing hurts of undreamed of proportions.
Our loving Father actually uses the wounds and bruises of the journey in the process of our sanctification.
By the way! Some of the scars which remain are a reminder of our own sinful weakness, others are reminders of just how great our Father is, and that His promise to never leave us nor forsake us stands eternal!!
Mary and Aussie John,
Thank you for taking this simple post and adding flesh and bones and breathing life into it! I’m learning more and more – through interacting with brothers and sisters like the two of you – how much God teaches us through the life experiences of other family members.
-Alan