Today’s Bible readings are Deuteronomy 21:1-22:30, Luke 9:51-10:12, Psalm 74:1-23, & Proverbs 12:11
Luke 9:57-62
57 As they were walking along, someone said to Jesus, “I will
follow you wherever you go.”
58 But Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens to live in, and birds
have nests, but the Son of Man has no place even to lay his head.”
59 He said to another person, “Come, follow me.”
The man agreed, but he said, “Lord,
first let me return home and bury my father.”
60 But Jesus told him, “Let the spiritually dead bury their own
dead! Your duty is to go and preach about the Kingdom of God.”
61 Another said, “Yes, Lord, I will follow you, but first
let me say good-bye to my family.”
62 But Jesus told him, “Anyone who puts
a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.”
One of the things that plague our
generation is a lack of commitment. I am saddened to see such a lack of commitment
in the lives of so many people.
1. No commitment to God.
2. No commitment to church.
3. No commitment to marriage.
4. No commitment to work.
5. No commitment children.
Jesus makes it very clear that He
expects us to be committed to Him. He is not looking for a people who will
follow Him when it feels good. He is not searching for “bandwagon” Christians. God
does not need a bunch of “fair weather fans”. Jesus Christ is looking for
COMMITTED DISCIPLES!
Too many people start a race that they
never finish. They make a superficial decision to follow Jesus but when things
start to get in the way of their commitment to Jesus, their commitment soon
changes. I want to share a few things that we can do to make sure that we
finish strong.
1. Keep focused on our present & future.
Remember that Jesus said these words:
62 But Jesus told him, “Anyone who puts
a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.”
Many people start to focus on their
past. They start to remember how things use to be. They start to miss what use
to be a part of their life. The whole time they fail to remember the pain &
emptiness that came as a result of living the former life style. They start to
gaze backwards instead of forward.
This is what Israel did in the
wilderness. They started to remember the melons & leeks. They started to
remember the FEW things that seemed good about their life of slavery. By
focusing on them they soon started to want to go back to what God had delivered
them from. They didn’t want to go back to the torment but they failed to
realize that to look back at any length would cause them to lose out
completely. And that is exactly what happened to them.
Paul made it clear that focusing on the
future is more important for us if we are to finish strong.
Philippians 3:12-14
12 I don’t
mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already
reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ
Jesus first possessed me. 13 No, dear brothers and
sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting
the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end
of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus,
is calling us.
There is a glorious future to those
that are in Christ. That must be our focus.
2. Don’t let anything get in the way of our commitment to Christ.
It is inevitable that something will
come to take away the hope that you have in Christ. It is also inevitable that
there won’t be things that come to distract you from your purpose. We must
guard our lives in this respect, knowing that Satan will attempt to weaken our
commitment.
Once you have made a commitment, every
decision has to support that commitment. This is how we develop deep roots.
Roots are what keep us strong during difficult times.
Matthew 13:20-21
20 The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and
immediately receive it with joy. 21 But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long.
They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing
God’s word.
1 comment:
Amen! So true. He is getting my first fruits.
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