Give Up Our Excuses
Luke 9:57-62 records the encounters of several enthusiastic , would-be followers of Yeshua . They voiced initial enthusiasm but were challenged by what they needed to give up to fully embrace His Kingdom . They were filled with excuses .
Note the passion of the vow in v . 57 . . . “ I will follow you wherever you go !” I relate so much to this man . It is so easy to hastily commit to abandon myself to follow Him when I ’ m in the moment of encounter with the Presence of Adonai . Then the excuses come ,
Yes , but … What about providing for my family ? How will I be able to afford my house ? What about paying all these bills ? What about my job ? What about how my family will respond ? How will I get enough for retirement ? What if I ’ m late to my meeting ? What if I look foolish to other people ? What if I end up offending other people ? What if I don ’ t understand ?
Oswald Chambers reflects , “ Again and again you will come right up to what Jesus wants , but every time you will turn back at the true point of testing , until you are determined to abandon yourself to God in total surrender . Yet we tend to say , “ Yes , but — suppose I do obey God in this matter , what about . . . ?” Or we say , “ Yes , I will obey God if what He asks of me doesn ’ t go against my common sense , but don ’ t ask me to take a step in the dark .”
Give Up Our Ownership of “ Free Time ”
What God calls you to do will always necessitate that you give up some things to create space to do other things .
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“ Then Yeshua was saying to everyone , “ If anyone wants to follow Me , he must deny himself , take up his cross every day , and follow Me . For whoever wants to save his life will lose it , but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it .” Luke 9:23-24 TLV