Not everyone will take the journey

Therefore, many of his disciples, when they heard this said, "this is a hard saying, who can understand it?" ...From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. John 6:60, 66

Although many followed Jesus for various reasons, many also walked away. People seemed to struggle to understand what Jesus was saying in here or they didn't really like it and so they decided to walk away. Infact, the John tells us that these people actually said, 'that's it for me, I have had enough, I'm through enough is enough of this, I've had it' and left him and apparently never walked with him again!

Even Jesus had people walk away! I also believe that many of them didn't really have a lot of good things to say about him to others. As the usual 'jungle drums' played, it would not have been all positive! I am sure if Jesus would have heard the chatter by some people, "what he said, what she said" as he travelled, it could have been very discouraging.

Think about this and make your own list of what these people might have said and let God speak to you about it.

Surprisingly, Jesus allowed people to come and go. He didn't always go after people. He seemed to understand that some will travel along this journey with you and some simply wont. I heard a church leader once say, 'People come and people go for many reasons, get used to it'. Although this is frustrating to me to accept, history shows me it is true. This happens in all walks of life: Friendships, relationships, Family, church, Life Group, work, business, teams, sports etc). Although this can be disappointing, Jesus didn't let it get to him he stayed focused on his father and on his mission. He knew it was better to have God's approval than man's. A leader must lead and stay true to his course.

At the end of the day, people will only take a journey with you if they want to and usually vote with their feet or wallet in one direction or the other regardless of what they may say.

In these times, we must stay close to our heavenly Father and keep focused on his mission and this, as it did with Jesus, will carry us forward.