Following Jesus is not something that we do on a whim but it is something that has to be taken seriously. When Jesus asks us to "Follow him", we should be fully committed to building his kingdom.
1) Do you have any "Lord, [but] first let me...." obstacles/priorities in your life? If you don't, what kind of encouragement can you give to the rest of us?
2) What does it mean to "deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow [Jesus]"?
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6 comments:
When Jesus asks, a decision has to be made on the spot. Granted it might sound like a decision is made on the whim, it is a serious one.
In Luke 5:11 and 5:28, it is cleared that the disciples made a decision on the spot, leave everything (pretty serious!) and follow Jesus.
In the case of Chap 9 verse 59 and 61, both man wants to follow Jesus BUT they have something they need to do. And Jesus responded in a very plain manner, the man is not fit for service in the Kingdom of God.
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Sometimes I think Jesus is very clear. It is not the Bible that is not clear. Rather it is my own sinful nature and my denial in accepting the Truth and therefore I try to distort it to fit into my own belief system.
In v. 24-25, Jesus said, "for whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. 25What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?"
We have Christians who literally died for the gospel (martyrdom). That sounds to me what Jesus is saying (if someone has another interpretation, please share...).
Am I willing to die for the gospel?
Am I willing to give up everything in His name?
Granted, He might not call us today or tomorrow to do such a thing (I ain't encouraging everything who accepted Christ to sell everything they have). But that's the attitude of those follow Christ will do and do it willingly and in joy.
For me, I never consider my life as mine. All the days since I had my liver transplants are bonus. And such, if God calls to take away...what choice do I have? I own Him. He doesn't own me anything. I am living this life (my body) on loan to Him.
I think we all have times in our lives when we tell God to wait. Sometimes it can be things like going on missions, or taking on a certain ministry, or even something simple like taking the first step to forgiving someone. Often we have excuses, some of which sound very valid (like we don't have enough training, or somebody else is better at that, etc). But the requests that the men made in Luke 9:57-62 are also things that are very valid (like saying goodbye, or burying the dead), yet Jesus is still very clear in saying, if I call you to do something, I want you to do it now. I know I struggle with that a lot. I always feel God telling me that I need to talk to my father or certain friends about Him. But I'm always finding it too awkward, or I don't know what to say, or I'm always trying to wait for the perfect opportunity. I know that I definitely need to start acting now, and trust that God will overcome any of the excuses that I have.
Ginny,
I agree with what you say in that it is very awkward to just bring up the subject on a whim. If it is an awkward situation, people will probably be turned off... I always struggle with that.
I think that the best thing to do is pray for opportunities and be prepared when someone does ask you.
And one more thing to add...
I go to the meeting hosue and today's sermon was on life after death and one of the passages that stuck out was:
Rom 8:1
so yea... it was a good reminder that this is only a temporary life and that everyone in the life is going to be judged. And it is a good reminder that if I really care about that person and want them to be "saved" then we should not feel awkward at all.
There are countless times I have asked God to wait, or simply delayed obedience. I remember being constantly reminded "delayed obedience is disobedience." As for the interpretation of the man going back to bury his father, I remember reading that in the way it is written it could be referring to waiting for his father to die. That is, "not now, but later" (much, much later).
As for what Ginny said about opportunities, I agree, there is a time and place for everything. But we should careful that when we pray for opportunities that we actually have the intention to follow through. Last year I prayed for opportunities and God gave them, yet I had very little intention to follow through, which in a way is worse than not asking at all.
And finally, what struck me most:
62Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God." - You have gone "beyond the point of no return", so to speak.
I agree with you Sam. If we pray, we obviously should believe that the prayer will be answered since our God is a living God. So, yes, we pray for something, we should expect to do it.
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