Luke 9:61 says, "As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." He said to another man, "Follow me."But the man replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God." Still another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family." Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."
As I read this passage a few things really stick out to me. One is that Jesus calls everyone to follow Him. Second is that when He asks us to follow Him, he asks us to not only leave the bad things in our life but also some of the good. Both of the men in this passage, said YES, they would follow him. But then they said "But First..." They wanted to follow God but first they wanted to do something that they felt was more important at that moment. Burying their dead and saying goodbye to their family were not bad things in and of themselves but they weren't as important as what God was calling them to do...follow Him.
God calls us to leave the bad to follow Him, that we can understand. But why does He call us to leave the good? There is only one reason. He has something Great for us instead!! Maybe you are in a job that is a good job, it pays the bills, it has good benefits, and it's easy. But maybe, just maybe God wants you to leave that good job because He has a great job for you!!! Maybe He has plans for your life that are beyond your wildest dreams and maybe you will never get to see what He could do in your life unless you are willing to step away from the good and FOLLOW HIM to the great.
Ephesians 3:20 says that He is able to do immeasurably more than we could EVER ask or imagine!! I can imagine a lot of amazing things and yet God is able to do more than that! I want the great that God has in store for my life!! Don't you? What good thing are you holding onto before opening your heart to fully Follow God?? A job? A friendship? A home? An idea of what you think your life should be like? God's plans for your life are so much greater than any plans that you have! So, today, make the decision to Follow Him and leave your "but firsts" behind. There is no better path to take!
I agree sometimes the good thingts of the world get in the way of the Great things of God! It is important to remember that God does not operate the same way we do. In fact He does not even operate in the same sense of time that we do. As a result sometimes He needs to use us in ways that in our human limitations we can not possibly understand. I think we should all try to focus on the still quiet voice of God leading our lives towards the greatness He has planned for each of us.
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