Are You Following at a Distance?

“But Peter was following at a distance as far as the courtyard of the high priest, and entered in and sat down with the officers to see the outcome” (Matt. 26:58)

Hey Gang, Have you ever had someone say, “Hey dude, I am behind you all the way?” Does that mean they do not want to get to close to you when you are struggling?  Or, “I am deeply concerned about your wilderness experience but I just want to watch for a while to see if I want to get involved.”

I have become deeply concerned with the ‘I will pray for you gang’. Not that I do not want them to pray for me but I suspect, in many cases, it is more of an ‘escape phrase’ because they really don’t know how to respond to my need.  I have heard it said, by many folks who have been closely knit with a Bible study group or any group for that matter, that, when they lost their mate suddenly those close associations ceased to exist and they found themselves alone.

I believe we can learn a very important lesson from the Scripture of the day. If I were asked to choose a favorite person in the Bible, I might be able to reduce the list to two or three dozen. But, I tend to lean on those characters who have taught me deep truths about how I can live my life more abundantly.

Peter and Paul would certainly be at the top of my list.  I know Peter tends to be the recipient of ‘bad raptsville’.  I mean, he did sink into the sea, didn’t he?  And it was he that lost his cool and cut off the ear one of Jesus’ captors in the Garden of Gethsemane.  But, then again, as I recall, he did get out of the boat!! And after the Holy Spirit moved in he was a new creature.  

As I reread this portion of Scripture, the Lord seemed to be saying, “Read it again and learn!”  On the reread I began to see a pattern in the verses, This alerted me that Christians can get caught up in Following at a Distance”.  I also noticed that in these verses that we see a pattern of escalation of sin.

First, Peter followed at a distance.  Don’t forget he had said to the Lord, “I will never forsake you!”.  I suspect he was hurting deep in his soul.  But notice the next step – he warmed himself at the enemy’s fire and then he denied, and he denied and he denied- that he was a follower of Jesus.  It must have been a like a donkey kick to the gut when he heard the rooster crow in the distance.   

Soooo, good folks, there is much more I would like to share with you about following at a distance, but I will save it for another day.  BUT, let me share a confession with you: there have been many times when I tended to follow at a distance and look for a warm fire even if it was God’s enemy’s fire.  But it was at those times when another lesson of God’s grace was welded into my soul.

Blessings,

Gramps