“After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.” – John 6:66
Following Jesus is hard for us. You might argue that Jesus made salvation easy – after all, we just need to believe in Him to receive God’s grace. That’s wonderfully, gloriously true. However, it’s also very difficult for people to accept because it means we can’t possibly justify ourselves. God’s grace requires us to stop trying to save ourselves, confront and admit our wretched sinfulness, and embrace God’s one and only path to life. We hate that!
Following Jesus is also hard because after we’ve embraced His grace, He calls us to deny ourselves, take up our personal cross of sacrifice daily, and obey His commands and example. Jesus invites and commands us to a blessed, Spirit-filled life of self-denial. Jesus invites and commands us to believe and do things that will seem strange and be unpopular with the majority of people around us. His invitation is amazing but, once again, we naturally hate that! We far prefer self-centeredness, indulgence, and social acceptance to self-denial, sacrifice, and social rejection. And so, many who initially are enthusiastic about the person and good news of Jesus Christ won’t really embrace Him as their Lord because of what He expects.
Jesus is used to that, as we see in the verse. Though He desires for everyone to follow Him, He absolutely prefers a handful of true followers to a large crowd of fans. He actively winnows out His true followers from His casual fans in this story and is glad to have done so. Jesus isn’t concerned about the number of people sitting in a church building or calling themselves Christian. He cares about the number of disciples who are truly following Him, carrying their cross along the narrow path of faith. Of course, He gives every disciple the strength to carry their cross, He walks with them, and He fills them with joy as we do. But each believer must still walk with Him rather than his or her own path.
What about you? Are you truly walking with Jesus? If not, will you turn and #FollowJesus?