A Little Farther
By John Ankrom
When a child is first learning to walk it is not uncommon to hear the mother or father admonishing the child "just a little farther" you can make it, come on. In doing this, we give the child encouragement, we help them build confidence in their ability with the assurance that we are there to help and catch them if they stumble.
As humans we like to be around those who inspire confidence and assurance, we like to be surrounded by those who will help us go "a little farther" don't we? How many people do you know, who like to be criticized, I'm not talking about constructive criticism, but true criticism, where you are tore down and made to feel small, made to feel insignificant.
In Matthew 26:36-41 we read "And he went a little further" Yes, I know this passage is telling us that Jesus went a little further (in distance) from where he left his disciples to watch as he prayed, but in a truer since we can see that Jesus went "a little farther" in all aspects of life and as the loving parent admonishes a child, Jesus is there admonishing us to take the next step, giving us confidence and assurance that we can live faithful lives in this dark sinful world.
The thought of Jesus going a little farther, not in feet or yards, but in absolute surrender to our Fathers will, should inspire us to go that extra mile, to give just a little more in the things we do for the Lord. We should take our example from the one who went as far as he could for us, He went to the cross.
Have we like the disciples, fallen asleep while we should be watching? Have we become so lax in our Christianity that we have perhaps taken a few steps backwards? We need to wake up spiritually and look to where we are standing, "lest we fall" I Corinthians 10:12.
Are we going a little farther? Are we taking the next step? Are we following the path Jesus has laid before us? Or are we asleep while Jesus is beckoning, pleading for us to come a little further?