Then seizing him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance. (Luke 22:54)
I slowed down to look at the things on the shelves around me, and the distance between me and my family grew larger and larger—until they were nowhere to be seen. I glanced around frantically, a scared little girl all alone in the canned foods aisle. Most people have memories similar to this, where they got lost from a parent or a group of friends and found themselves alone.
Losing track of the people we are trying to walk alongside starts with following at a distance. In many ways, this is the same thing that happened to Peter. It can be easy to read the Bible and notice Peter’s failure when he denied Jesus, but the road to failure started earlier. Peter stopped allowing himself to be in close proximity to Jesus. Things had gotten scary and uncertain, and Peter’s response to uncertainty was to cautiously lag behind. In his efforts to protect himself, he lost sight of who he was following and found himself stranded in the canned foods aisle.
When we find ourselves beginning to fail and to fall, one of the most impactful questions to ask is, “Where is Jesus?” Are we walking alongside him, or are we tentatively following from a distance in an effort to cling to some assurance of safety and comfort?
Ask yourself whether you are following Jesus at a distance.
Grace Aukerman is a third-year Kingswood University student from Albania who loves coffee and her dog.
© 2022 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
