Monday 23 July, 2018

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.” 20 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” 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.” 23 Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. 24 Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” 26 He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. 27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”

I think we all understand clearly that being devoted to Jesus is more important than gaining the things of the world.

We find that when we come to Jesus for salvation, we not only exchange sin and death for righteousness and life, but we also change families. We become part of the family of God and our primary allegiance is now to God the Father, not to our earthly dad. We may love our families very much and be very close to them, but the greater love has to be to God.

When we make a decision to follow Jesus we may not fully understand what will be required to follow Him. If we love the world more than Jesus, then we have yet to come to grips with what it means to be a Christian. At times we can get excited about following Jesus – to cross to the other side of the lake. We believe that there is nothing that will divert us from this decision. We may be like the scribe who professes allegiance, but will not even go across the lake. Jesus was reminding His followers that there is a cost – it might impact on our relationships, it may require sacrifice of material things; it may require having to face fears and anxieties.

This passage reminds me that when I am letting other things take priority over my relationship with Jesus I am to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well (Matthew 6:33). Jesus isn’t saying I can’t have these things but when we seek Him first, all these things will be ours as well.

Thank you God that you are our Father and you provide for us much more than we can ever imagine. Amen

Written by Meredith O’Neill