What are you following?

Source: HBS Financial Planning

"Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” - John 6:68-69 (NIV)

The world today can pull us in a million different directions. Our jobs can keep us occupied at all hours of the day and night, pulling us away from our families and other important things in our lives. A hobby can take up all of our time. Public opinion can also do the same with the masses, or "everybody else," believing one thing and making it so attractive or so compelling that we feel we must follow or suffer the consequences.

Little has changed since ancient times in that regard.

As documented in the book of 1 Samuel, the ancient Israelites demanded a king to rule over them. At the time, they had been ruled by judges who had learned the will of God for the nation and then led the people in that direction. This was unlike the nations surrounding them, each of whom had kings who ruled with varying degrees of strictness, all as absolute rulers.

Rather than be the separate people that God had called them to be, the Israelites clamored for a king of their own. The prophet Samuel, who had been overseeing the nation as judge, warned them, with words from the Lord, of what a king would do to them:

"This is what the king who will reign over you will do: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. Your menservants and maidservants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the Lord will not answer you in that day. " - 1 Samuel 8:11-18 (NIV)

Despite this warning, the people ignored him, saying, "We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles." (1 Samuel 8:19-20 (NIV)) So God gave them what they wanted, having Samuel anoint Saul, who was considered an "an impressive young man without equal among the Israelites" (1 Samuel 9:2), as king.

The arrangement worked for a while, with Saul scoring impressive victories early in his reign. However, it soon began to unravel. Following a victory, Saul offered up the burnt offering to God rather than waiting for Samuel and the priests as he had been instructed by God (see 1 Samuel 13:1-15), and he was soon replaced by David, who had risen to prominence after defeating Goliath (1 Samuel 17) and scoring other military victories.

However, with few exceptions, having a king rule over them "like all the other nations" did not work well for Israel. The Bible, in talking about future kings, often described them as having done "evil in the eyes of the Lord," causing the rest of the nation to sin as well. The nation of Israel was split into two kingdoms, Israel and Judah, and eventually both were conquered by foreign powers as the people fell further away from the will of God. Psalm 106 explained the situation:

"They did not destroy the peoples as the Lord had commanded them, but they mingled with the nations and adopted their customs. They worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them. They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons. They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was desecrated by their blood. They defiled themselves by what they did; by their deeds they prostituted themselves. Therefore the Lord was angry with his people and abhorred his inheritance. He handed them over to the nations, and their foes ruled over them. Their enemies oppressed them and subjected them to their power. Many times he delivered them, but they were bent on rebellion and they wasted away in their sin." - Psalm 106:32-43 (NIV)

But where do you go if the world's ways are not a good way to go? The Apostle Paul wrote on this several times in his letters to various churches:

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will." - Romans 12:2 (NIV)


"See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ." - Colossians 2:8 (NIV)

Jesus also provided the answers, offering eternal life. He is quoted in John as saying he is "bread of life," and that those who come to him and believe will never go hungry or never go thirsty. (see John 6:35). He was provided as the answer to sin and deceptive philosophies (see John 3:16-17). After a while, his apostles also saw this, even as people were deserting him, with the Apostle Peter saying Jesus has "the words of eternal life."

All it takes is to believe in that.