From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.” John 6:66-69
We have a longtime friend of the family who is a “fair
weather fan”. In his defense, he didn’t discover that he liked to watch sports
until he was in his 60s, so there are still a number of things he is catching
on to. When his team is losing, he can’t watch. If he has convinced himself
that they will lose ahead of the match he won’t even tune in, and is then upset
that he missed it if they “somehow” pull out a win.
Even though I have observed this the past 10 years, I
recently thought about the comparison to this verse in John. In this scripture,
Jesus has lost his followers (his own fair weather fans) and he looks to the
disciples and clearly asks – will you be leaving too?
How often are we fair weather fans to our faith? Our
community? Our family members and friends?
Our co-workers? It can be easy
when things don’t go our way to give up. To stop believing. To follow the
crowd. We justify our actions secondary to the performance and behavior of
others. If directly asked if we are committed we may not even have a specific
or concrete answer.
As I prepare for the new year I want to be a better “fan”. This
means so many things. Being a better Christian.
Being more active in my community. Being more engaged with family. Having
more tolerance. These can all be hard in
our current overstressed, and overloaded world. But with faith, worship, and
desire, action seems like the best approach.
Prayer: God who knows our struggles and missteps, thank you
for checking in on us, thank you for not giving up when your “fan” base turns
away or stops watching. Help us to remember the lessons of your son Jesus. Amen.
Christi Moock
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