Verses: Luke 9 : 51 - 62
My thoughts about the verses:
It is easy for us to say I will follow you Jesus. I will go where you lead me. The hard part is following through with that statement. We have a tendency to cling onto things that we should be walking away from. We say we are ready to follow yet we want to finish something that we started. We love Jesus but we try our best to complete or start tasks that we always wanted to do even if it keeps us from following God.
I can understand how these men must have felt as Jesus tells them to put the past behind them because they have something bigger to accomplish. I know that they were both scared and at the same time reluctant. How can I leave my family? How can I go forward following someone that doesn't even have a place to lay his head? You can see their minds going through all the finer details of how to make this happen and still fulfill their promises to their families and friends.
I know for me it took years for God to break me from this cycle. I have followed Jesus since I was a little kid yet there are times in my life that God went on the back burner. Sometimes because I felt betrayed because of the way people were treating me because of my identity. Sometimes I felt like I had other responsibilities that had to come first. Deep down inside my heart hurt every time I moved away from God and did my own thing. Yet, my human side was fulfilled for the time being and I thought that was enough.
God has a way of using the people that give their life to him. It amazes me today that God stuck with me through all those crazy moments of my past. The only way to win was to knock me down so that I had only one option and that was to beg for God's help. I needed to give my life over to God to survive. My life changed forever in that blink of an eye. I realized that I had fought so hard to be my own salvation that I had walked away from allowing God to freely help me.
Now this will be a shock to the people that know me. I lived what I called the Christian life. I was a Deacon through a majority of this time. Yes, I did commune with god. Yet, I was trying to survive physically more than spiritually. When God finally took away the ladder and made me fall to the ground I realized I didn't get hurt. At the bottom God caught me and that is when I realized that climbing the ladder was much harder than relying on God.
I still have the choice to follow God or to depend on my own self to accomplish things. Yet, through great humbleness I say God take over. I know that you will lead me where I need to go. I may never be a rich person, drive the ultimate car, or be the superhero that I tried to be. I do know that turning away from those things have made me a better friend, a healthier partner and a more dedicated Christian. Was it worth losing what I thought was important to come to where I am today? Yes it was more than worth it.
Prayer:
Dear God thank you for never leaving us. Thank you for loving us enough to desire the best for us. Dear God help us focus on serving you. Help us open our hearts so that you may have a place to lay your head. Help us turn away from the things that become barriers between serving you and serving ourselves. In the name of the One who Died for us All we pray. Amen
Questions:
My thoughts about the verses:
It is easy for us to say I will follow you Jesus. I will go where you lead me. The hard part is following through with that statement. We have a tendency to cling onto things that we should be walking away from. We say we are ready to follow yet we want to finish something that we started. We love Jesus but we try our best to complete or start tasks that we always wanted to do even if it keeps us from following God.
I can understand how these men must have felt as Jesus tells them to put the past behind them because they have something bigger to accomplish. I know that they were both scared and at the same time reluctant. How can I leave my family? How can I go forward following someone that doesn't even have a place to lay his head? You can see their minds going through all the finer details of how to make this happen and still fulfill their promises to their families and friends.
I know for me it took years for God to break me from this cycle. I have followed Jesus since I was a little kid yet there are times in my life that God went on the back burner. Sometimes because I felt betrayed because of the way people were treating me because of my identity. Sometimes I felt like I had other responsibilities that had to come first. Deep down inside my heart hurt every time I moved away from God and did my own thing. Yet, my human side was fulfilled for the time being and I thought that was enough.
God has a way of using the people that give their life to him. It amazes me today that God stuck with me through all those crazy moments of my past. The only way to win was to knock me down so that I had only one option and that was to beg for God's help. I needed to give my life over to God to survive. My life changed forever in that blink of an eye. I realized that I had fought so hard to be my own salvation that I had walked away from allowing God to freely help me.
Now this will be a shock to the people that know me. I lived what I called the Christian life. I was a Deacon through a majority of this time. Yes, I did commune with god. Yet, I was trying to survive physically more than spiritually. When God finally took away the ladder and made me fall to the ground I realized I didn't get hurt. At the bottom God caught me and that is when I realized that climbing the ladder was much harder than relying on God.
I still have the choice to follow God or to depend on my own self to accomplish things. Yet, through great humbleness I say God take over. I know that you will lead me where I need to go. I may never be a rich person, drive the ultimate car, or be the superhero that I tried to be. I do know that turning away from those things have made me a better friend, a healthier partner and a more dedicated Christian. Was it worth losing what I thought was important to come to where I am today? Yes it was more than worth it.
Prayer:
Dear God thank you for never leaving us. Thank you for loving us enough to desire the best for us. Dear God help us focus on serving you. Help us open our hearts so that you may have a place to lay your head. Help us turn away from the things that become barriers between serving you and serving ourselves. In the name of the One who Died for us All we pray. Amen
Questions:
Have you giving Jesus a place in your heart to rest? Have you turned away from the things that have distanced you from the one that made you? Are you willing to follow God no matter where the path may lead you? Are you willing to walk away from your old life to live anew?
No comments:
Post a Comment