Matthew 10:38
“If you don’t go all the way with me,
through thick and thin, you don’t deserve me. If your first concern is
to look after yourself, you’ll never find yourself. But if you forget
about yourself and look to me, you’ll find both yourself and me.
Scripture
quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002
by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs,
CO. All rights reserved.
It happens almost every time
we are together. Timothy gets so engrossed in playing with his Legos®…or
watching videos or a movie…or whatever has grabbed his attention at the
moment…and he totally ignores our summons. At least that’s how it
seems…because, you see, we KNOW that he hears us! We call, “C’mon…it’s
time to go,” or "Dinner is ready…you can play with that again after you
eat.” And he acts as if nothing has been said to him until we call to
him two or three (or more) times! If we start to move on without him,
Timothy will often look up and say, “Wait! Wait for me!” and come
running to join us.
This is not a case of childhood misbehavior, necessarily. Timothy’s siblings – and all children – do this, because they are immature children!
They lack the ability to understand that there will be plenty of time
to do what they want after they complete the task being required by the
adult(s). And most surely, they lack the capacity to fully comprehend
that there is a time and a place for us to do what we please and follow
our own desires…and a time to set those aside for someone or something
else. No kid of any age ever likes to hear the words, “Time’s up!”
I
know this scripture verse is almost identical to the passage from Luke 9
that I shared yesterday. And I’ll be honest, the outline I created for
these
devotionals called for me to use another passage from the Book of Mark, Chapter 8, that says virtually the same thing. So I surmised
that God really wants me to share this thought again today. We
cannot be true disciples of Jesus Christ and focus on our own desires
and agendas. We must understand that HIS desires and plans come first.
When He calls, we must drop what we are doing…and answer!
Most
likely, there will be plenty of time for us to do the things that we
want to do…and if not, they weren’t all that important anyway. If God
supports your desires and activities, He will see that you have the
means to pursue them. And if you choose to pursue them without
His blessing, don’t be surprised if the end results are less than
stellar. I’m not suggesting that God will sabotage you…but He surely
will not support and enhance your selfish behavior.
Let’s all
stop today and spend a few minutes talking to God about what He wants
for us. Let’s ask Him to show us which pursuits and desires are
selfish…and which are on point with what Jesus requires from His
disciples – including us. When Jesus calls, let’s drop what we are
doing and answer right away. If we are not willing to do this – to go
all the way with Him through thick and thin – we really don’t deserve to
have a relationship with Him. I don’t want to be like a child who keeps
on playing…and look up to find Jesus leaving without me. What about
you?
©2015 Debbie Robus
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