If Only I Had Walked the Earth With Jesus

When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong. Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. Galatians 2:11-12

Have you ever had thoughts like these:

"If only I had walked the earth with Jesus, I wouldn't have the struggles I have today."

"If I had been one of the disciples living with Jesus day in and day out, learning from the master, I'd be a lot different."

If only I could have walked with Jesus in the flesh, I wouldn't be plagued by fear, prone to selfishness, and jealousy would be no more because I would be with Him- completely satisfied." (And in case you're wondering, yes, those are areas that I struggle with on a regular basis).

I've had thoughts like those, longing to hang out with Jesus in His day watching how He lived and learning from Him. But I have only to remember the childbirth and dentistry practices of that era to realize that God definitely knew which generation I belonged to. "She's one of that weinie bunch that can't handle pain. Put her in the age of medical technology."

Yet, here is Peter, a man that walked with Jesus as a close friend and he is struggling with something as earthly as peer pressure (Galatians 2:11-12). Matter of fact, this wasn't the first time Peter had struggled with this issue. In Luke 22:54-62, he denied Jesus three times because he didn't want to stand out from the crowd and risk possible death or imprisonment. Right there with the physical Son of God in his presence he caved in to peer pressure and fear.

Well, if Peter did that, why should we assume that we would be any different? Why should we assume that if we saw Jesus face to face on this earth, we would suddenly be completely different with no more fleshly struggles? If we're Christians, we have Jesus living on the inside of us, even closer than having his body walking beside us everyday. Yet, we still struggle with junk, don't we? As long as we walk this earth in this natural body we will have issues. Even if Jesus was here in the flesh, we would still have issues.

But that isn't where the story ends. Thankfully, we can overcome things even without Jesus' flesh and blood body standing beside us (Revelation 12:11). We can be transformed day by day into His image (Romans 12:2). And if we have invited Jesus to live in our hearts we have the glorious promise that one day we will see Him face to face and we will be like Him because we will see Him as He really is (I John 3:2).