Don't run from Jesus

Running away can sound like fun when you're angry. If you run away, you think, everything will be different. No one can boss you around, and your family will be sorry they didn't treat you better!

Once you calm down, you start thinking about what running away would really be like. Where would you sleep when it's cold? Where would you get food? Who'd hug you when you're scared? All of a sudden, you can see that home isn't so bad, after all!

In the week's Gospel (John 6:60-69), Jesus worries that His Apostles will run away from Him. Their answer makes Him feel much better.

Jesus told all of His followers that He came from heaven. Many didn't believe Him and even stopped following Him. Jesus asked the Apostles, "Are you going to leave me, too?" "Where would we go?" Peter answered. "We know that you came from God."

Running away always sounds like fun at first. You're mad, and you really just want to be away from your family for a while. But when you think about staying away, it gets scary. What if you get lonely? What if someone tries to hurt you?

Many of Jesus' followers ran away when they got angry with Him. They heard Him say He was God's Son and thought He was crazy. Even though they used to love Him, when they were mad, running away sounded like a good idea!

Thinking about where you'll go if you run away helps you to see that it's not a good idea. That helped the Apostles, too: They saw how much Jesus loved them and believed that God sent Him. Where could they go that would be better than staying with Jesus?

If you ran away from your family, you'd miss them. But the people who ran away from Jesus didn't know that no matter how far you run, you can never get away from God, because God is inside all of us. Whenever we run from Jesus, He just waits for us to run back!

PRAYER FOR THE WEEK: Jesus, help me pray that all the kids who run away from home will run to you for help. Amen!

(08-21-97)

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