A Winner

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:63-69 ESV). There is an old adage that says, "Everybody loves a winner. But when you lose, you lose alone." Linda Ronstadt even covered a song that is titled the same. When you think about it, it's a pretty fair assessment of human nature. Instinctively most humans are not drawn to sadness, depression, or loss. And, yet, losing is a very real part of our lives much of the time. We do many things to minimize our experiences of loss or defeat. We make excuses or assign blame that will deflect any responsibility for losing. But the truth is that loss cannot be avoided. In fact, for the Christian it is a part of our calling. That is a central principle of our reading today. The harder the path became, the more the disciples were called on to sacrifice “winning.” This was true of many who had turned to Jesus in the beginning of his ministry. During that first part of Jesus’ ministry people were attracted by His teaching and flocked round Him. Many attached themselves to Him, some of them wholeheartedly, some loosely. Then came a time when their allegiance was tested by the rigors of following Him. That’s when the real nature of the claims of Jesus became apparent. The true disciples were sifted from the false, and the deep from the shallow. Jesus’ claims for Himself and His claims on His followers are such that it is no longer possible to follow Him unreflectively, and without fully committing oneself. In the children’s game of Follow the Leader the idea is to imitate the leader in all he or she does: jumping, walking, rubbing the nose against the wall, screaming, or just making silly gestures. From time to time the leader may be an older and mischievous child who loves difficult tricks. Those who are not able to follow him are left behind. To follow Jesus is to follow the Leader. The difference in the children’s game we used to play is that our leader knows our capabilities and possibilities. He does not lead us into situations we cannot handle. Moreover, He has walked the path He asks us to walk. But many of us have already set our standards and according to them we find His Word too hard to follow. We expect the Lord to talk about love, about forgiveness, about heaven. We don’t like to hear about sacrifice or discipline. We follow Christ as long as we enjoy what He is saying. When we don’t like what He is saying, we quit following. Sadly we miss the only real opportunity for victory. Like Peter we must realize there is no other to go to; Jesus is the only One with the words of life! Who are you trusting for your life today?