Thursday, April 22, 2021

Choosing Sides

"Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?".
When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, "Does this offend you?"
From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.
Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?"
But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.
"

John 6:60-61, 66-68 (NKJV)

Whether it be a political issue, views on how to live a healthy lifestyle, what is the best type of music, or biblical issues, people are always choosing sides.  What usually happen is that people have some ideas of their own, and then they hear someone else express similar views.  The first person then identifies with the second person who has the same view. The first person has chosen to be on the side of the second person because they have similar views on things.

In John 6, we see some people who chose to stop following Jesus because they did not like what He said.  We see others, including Peter, who chose to stay with Jesus because they recognized that Jesus had the words of eternal life.  Both groups chose a side based on what Jesus said.  The real problem was that some were choosing sides based on whether or not they liked what Jesus had said, while people like Peter made a wise decision based on what was right and true.

Unfortunately, some people choose sides for or against Jesus because they like or dislike something.  Some people follow God because they see benefits in their own life, but when a problem comes, they struggle in their relationship with God, because so much of their choice was based on positive things in their life and not a foundation of truth.  We need to be like Peter and choose to follow Jesus because it is the right thing to do and Jesus does have the words of life.  We have a decision of whose side we will choose, choosing to be on God's side is always the right choice.

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