Reflective Bible Study

Jumping ahead in Matthew’s gospel, we come to a series of parables Jesus shares while He was alone with His disciples that together show us a powerful picture of God’s character and love for us. While often we might think of the first two parables in this set as referring to us doing the majority of the work, when we look at this set as a whole, we get a completely different picture.

Let’s read what Jesus shared and what we can learn from this set of parables. Our passage is found in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 13, and we will read it from the Good News Translation. Starting in verse 44, Jesus continued sharing with the disciples, saying:

⁴⁴ “The Kingdom of heaven is like this. A man happens to find a treasure hidden in a field. He covers it up again, and is so happy that he goes and sells everything he has, and then goes back and buys that field.

⁴⁵ “Also, the Kingdom of heaven is like this. A man is looking for fine pearls, ⁴⁶ and when he finds one that is unusually fine, he goes and sells everything he has, and buys that pearl.

⁴⁷ “Also, the Kingdom of heaven is like this. Some fishermen throw their net out in the lake and catch all kinds of fish. ⁴⁸ When the net is full, they pull it to shore and sit down to divide the fish: the good ones go into the buckets, the worthless ones are thrown away. ⁴⁹ It will be like this at the end of the age: the angels will go out and gather up the evil people from among the good ⁵⁰ and will throw them into the fiery furnace, where they will cry and gnash their teeth.

⁵¹ “Do you understand these things?” Jesus asked them.

“Yes,” they answered.

⁵² So he replied, “This means, then, that every teacher of the Law who becomes a disciple in the Kingdom of heaven is like a homeowner who takes new and old things out of his storage room.”

In our passage, we find a set of three parables, with a bonus, one-verse, fourth parable right at the end. In the bonus parable, we find Jesus making room for those who are teachers of the Law to become disciples in the Kingdom of heaven. From this bonus parable, it seems that the teachers of the law who become disciples have an advantage over the teachers who don’t become disciples, and over the disciples who were not teachers, because only the teachers of the law who become disciples can bring out and blend both old and new truths.

However, the real focus of our passage is the first three parables that together make a neat set. What is unfortunate is that too often the parables are split apart and shared separately, or the first two parables are shared without the third.

I can understand why the first two parables get more attention and while the third parable is a little more concerning. The third parable focuses on the judgment and it includes people being thrown away. The third parable calls those who were thrown away as worthless fish.

However, Jesus shares these three parables in a set, and all three of these parables build on each other to give us a picture of what God’s Kingdom of heaven is like. In the first parable, the Kingdom of heaven is described as a treasure hidden in a field. This treasure is so valuable that when a man finds this treasure, He sells everything so that He can buy the field that contains this treasure.

While the first parable is often shared with the focus placed on you and me finding the Kingdom of heaven and valuing it like a treasure, since this is a parable about the Kingdom of heaven, God is present in it. In this parable, God could be the treasure, or He could be the man who sold everything.

The context of this parable allows for either interpretation. God gave up everything to purchase the field called the earth, and this is because this field had treasure in it. Also, we are called to give up everything for God, because God’s treasure is more valuable than anything we currently own or have.

The second parable is similar, however, this time, the Kingdom of heaven is compared with a merchant, who finds a pearl of great value, and he sells everything he owns to buy this pearl. Again, since this is a Kingdom of heaven parable, we should look for God represented in this parable, and again, this parable only gives us two options. God is either the merchant, or the pearl of great value.

Similar to the first parable, both interpretations work. God as the merchant sold everything He had to purchase the pearl of great value, which He did through Jesus. God valued us so much that He gave everything He had to redeem us from sin. God is also a pearl of great value and we are called to give up everything we think is valuable in order to gain God and His unusually fine pearl-treasure.

Before jumping into the third parable, it is interesting that these two parables are similar but also opposites. The first parable of the treasure in the field has the Kingdom of heaven being represented as the treasure while the second parable of the pearl has the Kingdom of heaven being represented as the merchant. I think both the interpretations for both parables work because each parable has a slightly different focus. The first parable is likely focused on us seeking God as our treasure, while the second parable is likely focused on God seeking us as His pearl of great value.

The third parable seems different, but it shares the same theme of looking for things of value. However, Jesus shares the interpretation of the third parable and He attributes this third parable to the end of the age. When Jesus returns at the end of the age, the angels will separate the evil people from the good and they will throw the evil people away – specifically into the fiery furnace.

As a side note: reading this reminds me of Daniel’s three friends facing the fiery furnace because they chose to only bow and worship God, not the king’s statue. In an interesting twist, those who are evil, who have chosen anything and everything but God will ultimately face God’s “fiery furnace”.

However, the big focus of this third parable is God collecting His people at the end of the age and saving them from this sinful world. This third parable leaves no vagueness because Jesus clearly shares what the parable means.

All three of these parables together form a big truth that we are to seek and give up everything for God’s treasure, God gave up everything for us because we are His treasure, and at the end of the age, God is going to return and rescue His treasure from this world of sin.

This is one of the only places in the gospels where the disciples respond saying they understand Jesus, and I really believe they did. After Jesus returned to heaven, every one of the remaining disciples gave up everything, including their lives, for the gospel message. The disciples’ lives are an example for us what it means to see God’s kingdom as our treasure!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life and value God like the man valued the treasure in the field. Understand that what God offers us is more valuable than anything we could ever hope to earn or acquire on our own, but we must give up ourselves in order to gain what God has promised us.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn how much God values you and me. God gave up more than we possibly could imagine purchasing us out of sin because He values us like the merchant valued the pearl of great value. Praying and studying the Bible helps us discover just how much God really loves us and how much He gave to redeem us!

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or be discouraged away from walking with God to where He wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

On the night Jesus was betrayed and arrested, He shared a supper with His followers. During this supper, Jesus tells His followers that one of them would betray Him, and He singles that person out. However, in spite of how clear this all is described, we discover that the disciples still did not understand what was happening until it was too late.

Let’s read what happened when Jesus singles out the betrayer, and see what we can discover. Our passage picks up right where our last episode’s passage ended, and it’s found in John’s gospel, chapter 13, and we will be reading from the New Century Version. Starting in verse 18, Jesus continues speaking to the disciples while eating supper, saying:

¹⁸ “I am not talking about all of you. I know those I have chosen. But this is to bring about what the Scripture said: ‘The man who ate at my table has turned against me.’ ¹⁹ I am telling you this now before it happens so that when it happens, you will believe that I am he. ²⁰ I tell you the truth, whoever accepts anyone I send also accepts me. And whoever accepts me also accepts the One who sent me.”

Let’s pause reading here because I want to draw our attention onto two big ideas. First is that Jesus knows He will be betrayed, and He is clearly aware of who the betrayer is. Jesus states clearly that He knows who He has chosen, and this statement implies that Judas Iscariot may have been brought into the twelve disciples through an invitation Jesus gave, but something was missing after the three years that kept Judas from being “chosen”.

However, we can get a clue about Judas Iscariot in the second big idea. Jesus finished this section off by saying that whoever accepts Him also accepts the One who sent Him. Earlier in John’s gospel, we discover in one of the most famous verses, that God – and this refers to God the Father – loved humanity so much that He gave us His Son, so that those who chose to believe in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. By accepting Jesus into our hearts and lives, we are also accepting the One who sent Jesus, and this is God the Father, and His Holy Spirit.

However, did Judas Iscariot accept Jesus?

Let’s continue reading to see if John tells us the answer. Continuing in verse 21, John tells us that:

²¹ After Jesus said this, he was very troubled. He said openly, “I tell you the truth, one of you will turn against me.”

²² The followers all looked at each other, because they did not know whom Jesus was talking about. ²³ One of the followers sitting next to Jesus was the follower Jesus loved. ²⁴ Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus whom he was talking about.

²⁵ That follower leaned closer to Jesus and asked, “Lord, who is it?”

²⁶ Jesus answered, “I will dip this bread into the dish. The man I give it to is the man who will turn against me.” So Jesus took a piece of bread, dipped it, and gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. ²⁷ As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered him. Jesus said to him, “The thing that you will do—do it quickly.” ²⁸ No one at the table understood why Jesus said this to Judas. ²⁹ Since he was the one who kept the money box, some of the followers thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the feast or to give something to the poor.

³⁰ Judas took the bread Jesus gave him and immediately went out. It was night.

In this last portion of our passage, a number of things stood out in my mind as we read it. However, the first big thing is the answer to the question I asked earlier. Verse 27 started by telling us that “As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered him.”

This verse gives us the key piece of the puzzle when asking the question about whether Judas had accepted Jesus or not. If Judas had accepted Jesus into His heart, God would have been present there, and if God was present there, Satan could not have entered Judas. Instead, we discover that even after three or more years being a disciple of Jesus, Judas Iscariot was well aware of Jesus’ miraculous support from God, but he had not taken the step towards letting his belief rest on Jesus and He had not spiritually let Jesus into His heart.

In last week’s passage, John told us about Peter and his response to Jesus’ foot washing. I believe that John is subtly contrasting Peter with Judas here, because Peter was all in. While Peter initially wasn’t willing to accept Jesus’ gift of foot washing, when Jesus explained the necessity of it, Peter wants Jesus to wash more of him than just his feet. While Peter stumbled in many ways, we can see from his actions that He was passionate about Jesus.

On the other hand, we don’t discover much about Judas Iscariot, except that most of the gospel writers tell us repeatedly that He would be the one who betrayed Jesus. John tells us that Judas was a thief, and that Jesus challenged Judas’ condescending remarks towards Mary about her gift.

But another interesting observation I had when reading this is that Judas had the choice whether or not to accept the bread from Jesus. While Judas was on the path of betrayal, he could have refused the bread Jesus was handing him. While the other disciples seem clueless that Jesus is exposing the traitor, Judas would have clearly understood what accepting the bread meant.

If God had been in Judas’ heart, Judas would have politely refused, and we would not have the first part of verse 27 in our Bibles. Verse 27 begins by telling us: “As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered him.”

If we remove the first conditional statement in this sentence, the second one disappears. If Judas refused the bread, Satan would not have entered Him, and it is possible this would be the beginning of Judas letting Jesus into His heart. Judas had the choice whether to accept the bread from Jesus, and Judas accepted both the bread and the role of betrayer in one instant. After Judas had accepted this role, Satan entered him and the last stages leading up to the cross begin.

Judas Iscariot was not forced to accept the role of betrayer. God did not predestine him to this role. Jesus did not invite him to be a disciple on the condition that three years later, he would betray Him. Judas chose the role of his own free will, and simply because God saw this happen, and because it was predicted before the events took place, everything hinges on Judas’ choice to accept the bread.

This means for you and I that even though God knows us so well that He knows what we will choose, we still have the freedom to choose when the moment comes. When we face temptation, regardless of our past, we can choose a new path moving forward. While our past lives might be full of sinful decisions, Jesus came to take care of our past when we choose to accept Him into our lives, accept the One who sent Him, and to turn away from the sin in our past. Jesus came to give us a new life with God, and God is inviting us to grow with Him for eternity.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As always, be sure to seek God first and when faced with the choice, always choose to do God’s will, to make the decision that will please God, and/or to choose to love and help others. Trust Jesus that our past has been dealt with when we make the choice to accept Jesus into our lives, and to move forward with Him.

Also, as I always challenge you to do, be sure to always pray and study the Bible for yourself and grow closer to God each and every day. Intentionally strengthen your personal relationship with God and let Him lead you into the truth He wants to teach you through His Word.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, or drift away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As we continue moving through Matthew’s gospel, we come to another miracle Jesus did that led into Jesus teaching and challenging those present. From one simple miracle, we find a powerful teaching that forces us over 2,000 years later to make a choice.

Let’s read what happened and discover what we can learn from this event. Our passage is found in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 12, and we will read it from the Contemporary English Version. Starting in verse 22, Matthew tells us that:

²² Some people brought to Jesus a man who was blind and could not talk because he had a demon in him. Jesus healed the man, and then he was able to talk and see. ²³ The crowds were so amazed that they asked, “Could Jesus be the Son of David?”

²⁴ When the Pharisees heard this, they said, “He forces out demons by the power of Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons!”

²⁵ Jesus knew what they were thinking, and he said to them:

Any kingdom where people fight each other will end up ruined. And a town or family that fights will soon destroy itself. ²⁶ So if Satan fights against himself, how can his kingdom last? ²⁷ If I use the power of Beelzebul to force out demons, whose power do your own followers use to force them out? Your followers are the ones who will judge you. ²⁸ But when I force out demons by the power of God’s Spirit, it proves that God’s kingdom has already come to you. ²⁹ How can anyone break into a strong man’s house and steal his things, unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can take everything.

³⁰ If you are not on my side, you are against me. If you don’t gather in the harvest with me, you scatter it. ^31-32 I tell you that any sinful thing you do or say can be forgiven. Even if you speak against the Son of Man, you can be forgiven. But if you speak against the Holy Spirit, you can never be forgiven, either in this life or in the life to come.

³³ A good tree produces only good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. You can tell what a tree is like by the fruit it produces. ³⁴ You are a bunch of evil snakes, so how can you say anything good? Your words show what is in your hearts. ³⁵ Good people bring good things out of their hearts, but evil people bring evil things out of their hearts. ³⁶ I promise you that on the day of judgment, everyone will have to account for every careless word they have spoken. ³⁷ On that day they will be told that they are either innocent or guilty because of the things they have said.

In this passage, we find what is often referred to as the unpardonable sin, and we find a challenge for us that we will have to account for every careless word we have spoken. Unlike other passages where people are judged based on their actions, this passage challenges us with the truth that we are also judged innocent or guilty because of our words.

This passage is challenging on a number of levels and in a number of ways, but that shouldn’t stop us from digging in and seeing what we can learn.

At the start of this passage, when Jesus casts the demon out and heals the man, the people wonder out loud if Jesus could be the “Son of David”. This reference is clearly Messianic because the Jews believed at that time that the Messiah would be a descendant of David.

However, the Pharisees heard what they were saying and were quick to challenge this idea. They show their prejudice by not looking at what Jesus was doing, but by attributing Jesus’ good works to Satan.

This is where I am amazed at Jesus’ response. First, Jesus challenges the logic of the Pharisees. If Satan has somehow decided to fight himself, then he is his own worst enemy and his kingdom won’t last. Also, Jesus wasn’t the only one in the first century casting demons out of people. There were even Pharisees in other parts of the country who healed people in this way. Jesus challenges the logic of the Pharisees that some people used God’s power, but other people used Satan’s power. This doesn’t make much sense when brought to light.

Then Jesus gets even more challenging. Jesus polarizes the conversation by saying that either you are on His side, gathering in the harvest with Him, or you are against Him and scattering the harvest. There is no middle ground.

However, Jesus then promises forgiveness, but He does so in an interesting way. He tells those present in verses 31 and 32 that “any sinful thing you do or say can be forgiven. Even if you speak against the Son of Man, you can be forgiven. But if you speak against the Holy Spirit, you can never be forgiven, either in this life or in the life to come.”

We can be forgiven if we decide to come to Christ after being against Him. However, if we ally ourselves against the Holy Spirit, we will never be forgiven according to Jesus’ teaching. This is what is often known as the unpardonable sin. I’ve heard many different ideas regarding this verse over the years, but the biggest challenge I see included here relates to where we choose to place our focus.

For many of God’s people who are paying attention to the world’s events, we can see glimpses of how God is moving in the world today in order to bring everything towards a conclusion. This moving of God is another way of saying that we see evidence of His Holy Spirit moving in the world around us. When we see spiritual things happening and are openly skeptical about it, our skepticism pushes God away. If we continually push God further and further away, we have alienated our only hope of salvation.

Another way to say this is that by pushing the Holy Spirit out of our lives, we are also pushing away the only Source that can lead us to forgiveness and repentance. Speaking against the Holy Spirit pushes Him away and by pushing the Holy Spirit away, we reject God and His offer of Salvation. Salvation is found through believing in Jesus and placing our faith, hope, trust, and belief in Him. This can only be done when we ally ourselves with the Holy Spirit and let Him lead our lives and our focus. Without the Holy Spirit, we are lost in our sin and destined to pay the penalty for our rejection of God.

Jesus finishes off by challenging us to pay attention to the actions, words, and attitudes of those in the world around us. Someone who is good is going to produce positive things, while someone who is bad is going to produce negative things. “Good people bring good things out of their hearts, but evil people bring evil things out of their hearts.” (v. 35)

While life appears to be a lot more complicated than Jesus tells us in this passage, this truth is intuitively understood. When Jesus returns and the world is judged, our only hope is Jesus. While this passage doesn’t share how God can change people’s hearts, their minds, or their attitudes, when we let the Holy Spirit into our lives, we let God transform us into the people He created us to be. With the Holy Spirit in our lives, we will have placed our faith, hope, belief, and trust in Jesus.

If you are worried or concerned about having committed the unpardonable sin, let me put your mind at ease by saying that your worry or concern is the Holy Spirit trying to draw you into a relationship with God. Someone who commits the unpardonable sin is unlikely to ever care about committing it.

However, it is also worth noting that Jesus did not share this message to people who were on the fence about believing in Him or not. Jesus spoke this challenge to a group of Pharisees who were already prejudiced in their opposition of Jesus, and who were trying to tell others that the Holy Spirit’s power that Jesus used to heal and help others was really the power of Satan. If you haven’t told others that Jesus came from Satan and used Satan’s power to heal people, then you shouldn’t be concerned about breaking this unpardonable sin.

Instead, let right now be an opportunity to return to God if you are on the fence, ask Him for forgiveness for your past sins, and choose intentionally to step into a new life with Him!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life and place your faith, hope, trust, and belief in Jesus. If you are concerned about having sinned, take time right now to ask God for forgiveness. If God has been challenging you about a part of your life that He doesn’t like, choose to repent and to turn away from whatever that thing is. God wants the best for you, and sin is never a blessing.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each and every day. Through prayer and study, discover what God wants to teach you from His Word and grow your personal relationship with God closer and stronger with every minute spent together.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or worry yourself away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

We’ve now come to the point in the gospels where all four writers slow down and describe the last supper Jesus shares with His disciples. Jesus knew that the next 12 hours would change everything and challenge much of what these disciples believed about the Messiah’s role.

However, Jesus does something interesting during this meal that catches the disciples off guard. Let’s read about what happened. Our passage is found in John’s gospel, chapter 13, and we will be reading from the New International Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 1, John begins sharing about the Last Supper by saying:

¹ It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

Pausing really quickly, I find that last phrase amazing. John tells us that Jesus loved His own who were in the world to the end. While this could be simply saying that Jesus loved them enough to face death, I wonder if it also means that Jesus loves all of His people through to the end of the world.

When challenges and trials come to God’s people in this life, know that Jesus loves you, and He will keep loving you to the end!

Picking back up in verse 2, John continues by telling us that:

² The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. ³ Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; ⁴ so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. ⁵ After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

Before continuing further, I want to draw your attention onto an amazing truth Jesus lives out through what John has just shared. After describing how Judas Iscariot was already on the path towards being the betrayer, John tells us that the Father had put all things under Jesus’ power and that Jesus was aware of this.

This statement has two huge implications. The first is that everything that happens following this moment in Jesus’ life is 100% within His control. This means that even though Jesus’ prayer in the garden was for God’s will to be done, God gave Jesus the freedom to choose whether or not to go through with the betrayal, arrest, abuse, rejection, and ultimate death on the cross. The idea that Jesus wanted to avoid the cross and that Judas Iscariot cut Jesus’ life short fails the simple reading of this verse.

If Jesus wanted to avoid the cross, there was dozens of ways He could have done so because God had put all things under His power!

The second amazing implication is that knowing or realizing that all things were put within His power, the first thing Jesus does is get up, take His outer robe off, wrap a towel around His waist, and step into the lowest possible role a person could have in that society. The role of a foot washer was the very bottom of the roles for servants, and Jesus, when He was at His greatest, steps into the lowest role to teach the disciples a powerful truth about humility and service.

As Jesus went around the room washing feet, He would have washed the feet of Judas Iscariot, the one who would betray Him, and even this act of humility would not be enough to break Judas Iscariot off of the path he had chosen.

However, one disciple protests Jesus’ actions. Continuing in verse 6, we read that:

⁶ He [Jesus] came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

⁷ Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

⁸ “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”

Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

⁹ “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”

¹⁰ Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” ¹¹ For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.

¹² When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. ¹³ “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. ¹⁴ Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵ I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. ¹⁶ Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷ Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

In this passage and Jesus’ teaching, He sets a new bar for humility. After Jesus was finished washing the disciple’s feet, He tells them that no servant is greater than his master is. Jesus, the Master, has just stepped into the lowest role imaginable in the disciples’ minds, and now Jesus is challenging them, and us, to step into an even lower role.

While I don’t know about your experience, every time I have washed someone else’s feet as part of a communion ceremony, it is both a very humbling experience, and it is a little awkward. From the perspective Jesus shares after this illustration, we are challenged to serve others at the lowest levels of society, and to never think of ourselves as above any level of service.

Jesus never thought He was above any task that needed to be done, and He challenges His disciples in the same way. If Jesus was willing to do anything and everything to save God’s people from sin, we should be willing to step down and serve in any and every way God has called us to.

Jesus modeled stepping down through His life. He stepped down from heaven to come to earth as a baby. He steps down to humanity, specifically John the Baptist, by being baptized at the start of His ministry. He steps down into the lowest role of a servant after serving as a teacher, healer, and giver throughout his time on earth. And Jesus stepped down into death in the most painful, humiliating way that society has created, because that is how much God loves you and I!

While there is still plenty of details left to discover along the path leading to the cross, Jesus begins this night by demonstrating service in one of the most profound ways.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

Always seek God first and accept His challenge to you in the areas of service, humility, and helping others. Never think of yourself as above a certain type of help or service. If Jesus ever thought He was above something or someone, He intentionally stepped under them, and He has called us to do the same. As followers of Jesus, we should focus on ways we can step down and serve instead of stepping up for status. If God wants to bless us with status, it should be only because we are serving others that well.

Also, be sure to always pray and study the Bible for yourself to keep your personal connection to Jesus strong. A personal relationship with God is possible today, and a personal relationship leads us from this point forward into eternity. Never let your personal relationship rest or be dependent on someone else’s relationship with God. God loves you personally and He wants a personal relationship with you without anyone else getting in the way.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or fall away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!