To whom shall we go

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66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
67 “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.
68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.” - John 6:66-69
The story took place at the backdrop of a very hard teaching given by Jesus after he fed the five thousand people with the miracle of the five loaves and two fishes. It was a point in time when many of the so-called disciples decided to turn back and stop following him, as they were unable to accept that hard teaching given by Jesus.

Throughout my Christian life, I have seen many people leaving and joining the church, for various reasons. I remember one friend, who came to know Christ and within a few weeks, decided that he will no longer follow Christ because he simply cannot accept that as a Christian, he has to forgive people, given that he has someone in his life which he refuses to forgive. And hence he walked away.

One question I always ask myself is this: how come these teachings are so difficult that people decide to walk away? What are the difficulties there? Perhaps I cannot empathise with them, or perhaps it's just that by God's mercy, He has given me understandings or showed me what are more important things that I need to be concerned about? I don't have the answer for this one. But I do know that Peter pointed out, in the right direction, of the predicament: to whom shall we go?

Every time someone turns away from Christ, one has to ask, to whom did they go to? On whom or what are they placing their confidence on now? I tried applying that question to myself and found it hard to answer, at least for myself. I find it difficult to turn away from Christ and be able to place my confidence on other things in this world. After all, to whom or what? If I turn to money, then I need to ask myself the question how much money then? If I turn to success and achievement, then I ask myself to what ends? If I turn to people or love, then what if the people are gone and the love is no more?

So where are we exactly placing our confidence in? For me, the answer is simple. I may not have all the answers or understandings at the moment, but I know that I have the Answerer and He will one day provide the whole picture for me to see. He is therefore the one I can place my confidence in.

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