Then another of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, let me first go and Bury my father.” Matt. 8:21. Often our struggles as Christians is not in deciding whether we should obey Christ but in obeying immediately. We may acknowledge our need to follow Christ and commit ourselves to do what He has told us. Yet when God reveals His will to us, that is the time to obey! God’s revelation of His will is His invitation to respond immediately. Some would-be disciples pledged their willingness to follow Jesus, but they told Him they were not ready yet. In Jesus’s day, a Jewish man is expected to care for his elderly parents until they die.
One man wanted to wait until his Father died before going with Jesus. This would be an honorable delay. The man had to choose between this important responsibility and heeding a call from the Lord. Yet God knew this man, and the man’s father. God would have taken care of the man’s father, if only he would have followed Jesus. This was an opportunity to walk with the Son of God, yet the concerns of this life were competing for priority with obedience to God. Timing our obedience is crucial. Invitation from God come with a limited opportunity to respond. Some opportunities to serve Him, if not accepted immediately, will be lost. Occasions to minister to others may pass us by. When God invited us to intercede for someone, it may be critical that we stop what we are doing immediately adjust our lives to what God is doing. Missing opportunities to serve the Lord can be tragic. When an invitation comes from God, the time to respond is Now! Shalom.
Pst. Mrs S.K. Zango