To Encourage You

2 Samuel 19:29-30 “And the king said to him, ‘Why speak any more of your affairs? I have decided: you and Ziba shall divide the land.’ And Mephibosheth said to the king, ‘Oh, let him take it all, since my lord the king has come safely home.’”

If you call yourself a follower of Jesus Christ, why is it that you are following Him? What is your motive? Do you realize that if you are following Him for the wrong reason, it may be that you are not following Him at all?

Do you remember the account of the feeding of the 5,000 in Matthew 14?  Over 5,000 people (the Bible says there were 5,000 men, but there were also women and children) were listening to Jesus speak, but then it got late and there was no food, so Jesus miraculously fed them.  Food wasn’t easy to come by in those days, especially for such a vast number.  But Jesus did it, and it caught people’s attention!  In fact, in the parallel account in John 6 it tells us that because of what He had just done, the people wanted to take Him by force and make Him their king.  And why did they want Him as their king? Jesus tells them on the next day: “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal” (John 6:26-27).

Did you hear that? Jesus is telling them that it wasn’t physical bread that they should be setting their affections upon, for physical bread, like our physical body and like anything else that is of this world, is destined to perish. He further explained that they should seek Him, AND ONLY HIM, for, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6:35).  Then, as He went on in this teaching, we are told that “many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him” (John 6:66).

So, again, why are YOU following Him? Is it so you can have wealth, good health, those kinds of physical things? That’s what many of today’s TV preachers would have you seek.  But that’s what everyone is seeking, whether they are believers or not.  Or are you seeking Jesus because of His grace to you, because he forgave you when you were in a helpless and hopeless condition, and in your gratitude, you want nothing else? 

We see a shadow of such a heart in the account above from 2 Samuel 19. It’s from the story of Mephibosheth, who was the son of Jonathan, David’s friend.  David had pledged to Jonathan that when he came to the throne he would care for Jonathan’s family, even after Jonathan died (1 Samuel 20). This was in spite of the fact that Jonathan was the son of King Saul, who was David’s mortal enemy.  It was because of this oath that David showed kindness to Mephibosheth, who was lame in both feet from a young age. When David came to power, rather than kill the family of his rival, as was common in that day, he showed grace to Mephibosheth and cared for him, having him eat at his royal table as one of his own sons.  He assigned his servant Ziba to care for him, and he gave him all of his grandfather Saul’s land.  But then came Absalom’s revolt, and David fled Jerusalem until the rebellion was put down. Afterwards, when it was apparent that David would return, Ziba went to him, lied about Mephibosheth, telling David that he was a part of the mutiny, and tried to get on David’s good side.  As a result of Ziba’s treachery, David gave Ziba all of Mephibosheth’s land.  In the account above, Mephibosheth had finally come to David and explained what had been done to him. David sees his error, and perhaps because he didn’t know who to really believe, he decides to divide the land between the two.  Or, like the account of Solomon who said he would divide a baby in half and give each half to the two women who claimed to be the mother (1 Kings 3), David was testing Mephibosheth to see where his true loyalties lay.  And Mephibosheth’s response?  “Let Ziba have all the land. It is enough for me that the king has come home.”  His heart is further revealed in these words that preceded the passage above: “My lord the king is like the angel of God; do therefore what seems good to you. For all my father’s house were but men doomed to death before my lord the king, but you set your servant among those who eat at your table. What further right have I, then, to cry to the king?”

So, is that how you see yourself if you call yourself a follower of Christ? Do you believe that the mercy He has shown you as a sinner saved by grace is more than enough?  Neither you nor I deserved Jesus’ incredible forgiveness, nor do we deserve anything else. Will you serve Him through thick or thin, no matter what comes your way. Do you have the heart of the prophet Habakkuk who said “Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation” (Habakkuk 3:17-18).  And would you reply like Peter did when the Lord asked him in the same account mentioned above from John 6, “’Do you want to go away as well?’ Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.’ Jesus answered them, ‘Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.’ He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.”

You see, Peter and Judas were both His “followers.” Peter followed Him in truth, while a Judas was a fraud, one who would eventually trade an eternal relationship with Jesus for 30 pieces of silver or some other earthly and perishable thing.    Which type of follower are you?