But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”
Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.”
Dear Jesus,
You impress direction on my life and demand decisive action.
"Follow me!"
Often, I want to procrastinate. I come up with excuses to delay obedience, but as someone said, "Delayed obedience is disobedience."
The man had a living father. The father was well. Death was by no means immanent, not even close. It might be years, perhaps even decades before the father would die. Your invitation is recorded as having been given once, with no apparent repetition. Once extended, the invitation was met with delay and excuse-making.
"Follow me!"
Earlier, You called a man to preach the Kingdom. He resisted, too. Perhaps he felt inadequate, unprepared. Perhaps the calling seemed to high, the expectations too great. Barclay wrote, "No one can ever say that he was induced to follow Jesus under false pretenses. Jesus paid men the compliment of pitching His demands so high that they cannot be higher" (William Barclay in The Gospel of Luke, 1953, p. 133).
"Follow me!"
Why are You insistent upon immediate action? Immediate obedience?
"Follow me!"
Often, Your call to action in my life is in a context of a growing impression or revelation from Your Word. I sense directive impulses in prayer, a phrase of scripture, a word of encouragement, a nudge. These directives typically snowball to the point that Your "Follow me!" becomes clear. "... There is a crucial moment; if that moment is missed the thing most likely will never be done at all... Unless we do it on the moment, if we put it off until tomorrow, it will in all likelihood never be done at all. It is Jesus' insistence that we must act at once when our hearts are stirred within us." (ibid, p. 133-134).
"Follow me!"
So, I follow. I can trust You if it is You whom I follow.
"Follow me!"
Thank You for calling, leading, and directing my life. Help me to obey.
Amen.
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