Following at a Distance
Remember going to the mall with your parents during your most awkward teen years? Self-conscious and insecure, perhaps you walked as far behind mom and dad as you could so that no one would think you were with them.
I have been guilty of that. Not so much with my mom and dad, but with Jesus. In times when I was overcome with self-consciousness and drowning in insecurity I did not turn my back on the Lord, but I did follow at a distance. Enough of a distance that you would not have associated me with Him.
I am not the first disciple to have done that. Matthew 26:58 describes how Peter followed Jesus at a distance. That separation from Jesus allowed Peter to sit down with the guards who arrested Jesus, and later deny Jesus. The distance permitted Peter to avoid taking up the cross with Jesus.
Jesus calls His disciples to follow Him (Matthew 16:24). The disciple is to follow Jesus, not at a distance, but so close that he will be associated with Jesus in the eyes of the world. Close enough to take up the cross.
