(Part 3 in a Series of Classic Questions: What Are You Doing Here, and Not a Multiple Choice Answer)
Commitment. In my youth, I began a personal relationship with the God of the universe, but as I grew older, I dodged a wholehearted spiritual commitment. Fear stood as a menacing roadblock. I feared God would ruin my life, if I made a commitment to follow Him irrevocably. Commitment. What if He wanted more from me than I wanted to offer?
Then, as a university student, my childhood relationship with The Lord underwent a dramatic transformation, and I willingly released the control and authority of my life into His Hands. Commitment changed my destiny.
Once I made the irrevocable commitment to follow Him for all of my days, living with eternal intentionality became my spiritual North Star. I traded my will for His and began the meaningful journey for which I was created.
Commitment stands at the heart of Jesus’ question in The Gospel of John, and ultimately, it is a question that His Follower must answer. Perhaps my personal journey quantifies my acute sensitivity to His query in John 6:67: “You do not want to leave too, do you?”
Were there still opportunities to turn away? Yes.
“You do not want to leave too, do you?”
- a threatening miscarriage: lying in a Communist hospital bed in a ward surrounded by numerous other women, solely dependant on my husband to provide my food and necessities
“You do not want to leave too, do you?”
- a season of exhausting transition: landing with my family in a refugee hotel with our small children crying at night, thus provoking residents to knock on our walls, demanding silence
These and other situations have taught me that, when commitment collides with life, and Jesus asks, “You do not want to leave too, do you?”:
No one can answer His question for me. I must respond for myself.
Challenging circumstances cloud spiritual visibility, thus tempting one to make the erroneous assumption that a self-directed course correction will minimizes life’s difficulties.
It is ALWAYS right to say Yes to Jesus.
Following Jesus will never be easy; oh, but it will always be abundantly blessed!
Peter’s answer nails it every time, in every situation, in every intersection of life: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68).
Living With Eternal Intentionality™
When have you heard Jesus ask you the question, “You do not want to leave too, do you?”
