Worship or Fear?

It's hard to really follow Jesus. Not to trust Jesus for eternal life; that's simple. It's hard to follow Jesus as a disciple.

Discipleship is not the path of least resistance, the path toward riches, or the path of convenience. It isn't usually popular or logical, and can bring times of temporary heartache and doubts. And when it does, we have a response.

In Mark 10, we read about a Rich Young Ruler who went away sorrowful because he was not as good as he thought and was unwilling to trust Jesus. That completely blew the disciples' paradigm - they thought riches were a sign of God's blessing and said "Who can be saved then?" (Mark 10:26). Jesus says, "With man, it is impossible; with God all things are possible" (Mark 10:27) reminding them that if they're going to have eternal life, God is going to have to do something. Mankind can't make things right on their own.

That reminder freaks Peter out. Unlike the Rich Young Ruler, the disciples had left everything behind to follow Jesus (Mark 10:28). Jesus lays out the paradigm for discipleship saying that's exactly the kind of commitment he's looking for: the people who are last in the world's eyes will be first in God's economy.

I love verse 32. "The disciples were now on the way up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. The disciples were filled with awe, and the people following behind were overwhelmed with fear."

It's hard to be a sold-out follower of Jesus, but you see two groups of people here. The people who were closest to Jesus were filled with awe; the people who were haphazardly going along were overwhelmed with fear.

The closer you get to Jesus, the more fear turns into worship.

Following Jesus is hard. When it gets difficult, will you be awestruck at the power of the One through whom "all things are possible" or will you start lagging behind, overwhelmed with fear?

3 comments:

Deb said...

Wow. Thank you for this.

Mike and Debbie said...

"The closer you get to Jesus, the more fear turns into worship."

So true!!!

lisa said...

good one!