When People Decide To Leave You

John 6: 66 – 69, From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?" But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." NKJV

Whenever we make the choice to follow Christ, we never know where He will lead us.  As we walk our journey of faith, many different people will come into our lives. Consequently, since we are disciples of Christ, those whom we come into fellowship with will tend to look more closely at the way we handle life. Some people will watch as we face and endure struggles and be inspired; however, others will take the same opportunity to become offended and no longer walk with us.

Those who are in your life, but don’t share your faith in Christ may have a tendency to be critical of your faith in “a God” that would allow you to suffer. While they may decide to sever any relationship they have with you because of your stand of faith, they fail to see that you have kept your faith in spite of the hardship that has come to pass in your life.  

You must not allow the actions or the words of others to cause you to stumble. In the scriptures from the gospel of John, we read where Jesus was confronted with the unbelief in people who acted as though they were His followers. Even so, Jesus knew what was in their hearts; therefore, He knew who would betray Him. As He watched some of them walk away from Him, Jesus turned to His most faithful disciples and asked if they were going to leave as well. You see; Jesus wasn’t moved from His commitment to the Father just because some people didn’t agree with Him or failed to see the value of following any longer.  

If you are going through a trial, and you’ve had people make the decision to break their relationship with you as a result of your hardship, then I challenge you to be strong and persevere. Like I stated earlier, when we come to faith in Christ, we don’t always know what the Lord will permit us to go through. Nonetheless, you can know this as a surety; everything that God directs you to do or allows you to face is for a specific purpose. It may not have anything to do with you. Since Jesus wasn’t moved by the decisions of so many, we can gather that this incident had more to do with them than it had to do with Jesus personally.

You are a witness of Christ to others. Consequently, as a witness, you are going to be tried on occasion. When you encounter the fiery trials of life, just remember that you’re a reflection of Christ and know that others are watching to see how you react to the trials. Don’t allow yourself to be moved aside from your faith. Others may pull away from you, but if you remain faithful, the Lord will deliver you and reward your faithfulness.  

People will come and go in your life. Just remember to keep your eyes on Jesus; do not be moved by the actions of other people. As Christians, we need to be rooted and grounded in our faith in Christ and built up through His Word. Therefore, when something or someone tries to shake us, we won’t let go of the Vine and fall.

Abiding in Christ,
Pastor Asa Dockery