With 2011 underway, Robby Smernoff, director and pastor of Meck’s high school ministry, kicks off our new year with a message that challenges us not to miss out on opportunities by holding back.
It is during this time we create, adjust, erase, and re-create our New Year’s Resolutions. We resolve to be a better person than last year, to eat healthier and exercise, actively serve in the community, stop procrastinating, be more adventurous…the list goes on. Then we shave this list so the goals don’t take too much out of us: ‘eat healthier and exercise’ becomes ‘only order take-out three or four times a week’; ‘community service’ morphs into ‘take the unused food from the pantry and drop it off at the homeless shelter’; and we often fail to get further than that because procrastination sets in.
When we break our resolutions we come up with excuse after excuse to explain why we are unable to reach our goals. It’s never our fault; circumstances just always seem to arise that prevent us from following through. It also seems that we fashion excuses for why we are unable to follow God wholeheartedly. And none of those excuses stand a chance against the reasons why we should.
Luke 9:61-62 (The Message) tells of a man who was eager to follow Jesus just as soon as he got all his ducks in a row: “Then another said, ‘I’m ready to follow you, Master, but first excuse me while I get things straightened out at home.’ Jesus said, ‘No procrastination. No backward looks. You can’t put God’s kingdom off till tomorrow. Seize the day.’” Wow, procrastination must be on everyone’s list of resolutions. Instead of approving this man’s request, Jesus challenges him to seize the day. Go for it. Chances are if you don’t take the risk now, you’ll never take it. If you want to follow God, why wait? Drop everything and allow him to take control of your life today, not tomorrow or next week, or next month, when you think you’ll have everything in order. If we always wait for “perfect timing,” nothing will ever get accomplished. And all that’s saying to God is that He isn’t a priority because this isn’t a convenient time.
This passage also contains another point of significance: no backward looks. The NIV translation says this: “Still another said, ‘I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family.’ Jesus replied, ‘No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.’” As Robby explains, in the same way that a farmer cannot expect to plow a straight line if he is looking behind him, we cannot expect to follow in Jesus’ footsteps if we continue to look back at our old lives. It can be very easy to fall into the traps that the Enemy sets before us. He tempts us by reminding us how wonderful that boyfriend or girlfriend made us feel, how nice it was when everyone complimented our newest wardrobe addition each week, or how exciting the parties were. What the Enemy purposely disregards are the memories of how awful the arguments were with our ex, how long it took to pay off our maxed out credit cards or the consequences of our bad decisions the morning after the party.
If we are to follow God we have to look straight to Him. No looking back with a glamorized view of the past. It will be very difficult, but we are promised it will be completely worth any and all sacrifices. And as one of the most quoted verses of the Bible states, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me (Philippians 4:13, KJV).” So as difficult as it will be, we know that we can do it with Christ on our team.
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