John 6:68-69 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.”

We don’t think about how difficult it was at times to keep following Jesus. Jesus didn’t always make it easy! However, it isn’t always easy to follow Him today. There are always pressures of one sort or another to try to get us off the track, and for some people they are successful. I’m reminded of a railway train. The wheels are steel, and have an essential shape. Not only is there the flat surface that bears the weight of the train, there is also a flange that extends down beside the rail to keep the flat surface on it. If that flange wears down for any reason, the train can derail very easily. Peter here expressed the “flange” that kept them on the rail, and that was the conviction that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. Our faith needs to keep growing and deepening, to be the “flange” that protects us from wandering. This isn’t an absolute metaphor, because Peter denied three times that he even knew Jesus, but God got him back onto the track through repentance, and he then stayed true to the end. We need to remember that “It is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” (Philippians 2:13) We aren’t to be anxious, but we are to be on our guard against the lies of the enemy.

I well remember something my father used to do when I was a child. We had a major street in Fukuoka that, though it had double streetcar tracks running down the middle, was not paved. That’s hard for me to picture now, really, because even that streetcar line has been superseded by a subway, but in the hectic years of the 1950s such things existed. We took that street often, and my father discovered that the width of our Chevrolet matched the gauge of the tracks, so with very skillful driving we could get a very smooth ride on the tracks, instead of on the gravel. However, our car naturally didn’t have flanges on the wheels to keep us on the tracks! For some of my spiritual life I have tried to do that, rejoicing in the smooth ride but all too prone to leaving the tracks. However, that should give me empathy for those to whom I minister who don’t have “the flange of faith” developed very well. I am to have patience with them, but always speak the truth in love, not pampering their deceptions. I am to remember always that only in Christ do we have eternal life, and that applies both to me and to everyone to whom I minister.

Father, thank You for this reminder, and for the very clear picture of how to apply it. Help me be a good “flange grower” for the people under my care, so that we may indeed submit to You and resist the devil, (James 4:7) for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!