Reading about Jesus has often confused me.  He would do something incredible and then right after…He would do something that could be perceived to be …. CRAZY.

 

I think this is why the author Josh McDowell made the bold claim that He was either a lunatic, a liar, or the risen Lord.

 

The one thing that is clear is that Jesus was not playing around:

Matthew 8  18 When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. 19 Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”

21 Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”

22 But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”

Was Jesus really saying:  “If you want to follow me, there will not even be time to bury your own father.”

 

What?

 

Jesus is not callous or inconsiderate or out of touch.

He just knows what’s best….for everyone.

 

I know that in my life I wrestled with the idea of speaking at my dad’s funeral…….and I wrestled with it because I had felt the Lord PROMPTING me to do just that.  And we was PROMPTING me while I was wrestling with my dad’s sickness.

 

For days and weeks, I fought with the Lord about it.  

 

How could He know what I was dealing with and why would He ask me to do such a thing?

 

But God knows what He was doing.  And if I have learned anything over the years, I have learned this:  God asks me to do things as much for me as He does for others……

 

He ministers to ME in the things He asks me to do.

 

And so He did with my dad.  As I struggled through the utter despair of saying goodbye to the man who was my greatest hero, He began to do a new thing in me to bring me out of the pit.

 

And He used EVERYTHING, including the things that I despised, to bring me back to a place of peace.

 

Thank you Lord for loving me when I don’t have the strength to even love myself.

 

Now back to the Matthew verse.

 

God knows your direction is everything.

He knows that if you walk in the wrong direction that you will not end up in the right place….

 

And so He changed the man’s road map.

 

Going to bury his father was going to lead the man (in Matthew 8) away from Jesus…..

 

And, after all, our destinies are made up of choices, and when heading in the wrong direction, we can end up A LONG WAY FROM WHERE WE WANT TO GO.

 

All of us need to remember that small steps in the wrong direction can lead us so far from a good place.

 

But God….

 

But God died on that cross to set a new thing in action…..He wanted to give us a direction that would lead to life….

 

And life with Him is the only life there is.

 

So no “but firsts” to God…

 

No telling Him that you will do it….But first let me……

 

No.

 

Just follow.

 

It will be the best decision you have ever made.

 

In The Name of the Father and the

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

 

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Coach J