Do you also want to leave?

““Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?”
Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life.
We have come to believe
and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.””

 

What do we believe today? Many who knew Jesus Christ personally decided it was too hard, they could not accept his words.

 

It is a challenge sometimes to even fathom how that can happen. How can someone who walked with him, ate with him, heard his voice with their ears, one day turn away and say it is too much. And leave. Go back to the old life and way of seeing things.

He spoke to words of Spirit and life. Some did not believe him.

 

It is the same today isn’t it?

 

We know people who were raised in good homes, went to church, heard the word along side us but could not accept it as truth and walked away.

For those of us who believe it is difficult to understand and if it is a child or loved one it is a sorrow that aches in our heart and we hope one day their journey will find them realizing the truth and reality that we are all children of the Father in heaven and he did send his son to provide a way to him for us. For he loved us with out condition and with a passion that is beyond our imagination.

 

So why doesn’t everyone embrace him. Why do some walk away.

There are many reasons we can list, self interest over all other things seems to pull some away. Attention to the world and possessions…accepting the lessor joy for deep joy of putting priorities in place. Hurt and pain from other relationships or a misunderstanding of who God is….he is not our genie in a bottle no more than he was made in our image to do our bidding because we know best…some think.

 

But mostly I see apathy, laziness, the inability to discern and determine the truth for oneself and the inability to take action for it would mean changing a lifestyle that asks little of them and provides a temporary distraction whether it is hobbies, work or just keeping busy.

 

Believing requires us to do something. For most of us we are adult with the knowledge that if we accept a truth that something is good for us, that something is bad for us, that a decision is right or wrong, we must take the next step and act on it.

 

But some will not accept this. Often it means giving up something or even friendships in order to choose Jesus Christ.

As a convert I understand this. You see converts have to actually go through this process of evaluating what they believe as an adult using adult logic. When you say yes to Jesus Christ as an adult the next thing you realize is you are about to give up many things that brought you comfort and that are familiar to you. Friends who do not accept your faith. Lifestyles you realize now are excluded from what you are professing as the truth. Work and hobbies that can no longer be supported as they may be contrary to Christian values.

 

When as a new convert and a new Catholic we first take communion all of this comes flooding into our hearts and head. We realize action is required.

 

Why do people walk away and cannot believe?

I believe primarily it is either an apathy that they will not look at with adult and mature logic. For those who were following Jesus Christ it may very well have been too difficult to say, “I don’t understand all of it but I accept this Lord as the Son of God and trust in him.”

That statement requires putting God in control of our lives even when we don’t have all the answers. That is a position many people refuse to take. After all if they are not in charge then they do not accept it.

 

For us we realize we never were in charge at all. So we turn to the Father and trust in his Son and his love for us.

We come to the same conclusion as Peter when he said,

“Master, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life.
We have come to believe
and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”

 

We must pray for our loved ones who are no longer following Jesus Christ with us but love them and keep our hope always in our Father who loves all his children…even when they do not love him.