Jesus gives us all many opportunities to follow Him and when they come there is always a press that accompanies it. A pressing out of self preservation and control and a pressing into Him to walk through the door He has set before us.
I believe the church is living in a now season of greater works. A kyros moment in the Kingdom where the favour of God and open doors are abundant. Revelation tells us God is the one who opens a door and no man can shut it. Think about it, when God opens a door, there is grace and favour to walk through it. Paul said, those doors of opportunity were met with adversity. If we are not careful, the adversities seen or feared will prevent us from taking the opportunities, thus the press.
Faced with opportunities and open doors, we run the gamut of our christianized thinking. We count the cost. We consider wise stewardship. We ask ourselves has God really said? BUT when the questions are asked in hopes of finding a way out, we will.
The individuals in Luke’s gospel all had a heart to follow Jesus. The first thing Jesus told these followers was ‘the son of Man had no where to lay His head’. In other words, he was always moving about to do the Fathers will. Another individual needed to attend to his fathers funeral and another wanted to go home and say goodbye to his family.
When the opportunity is set before you it must be seized. The door must be walked through. Jesus replied to those who had said ‘let me do this first and I’ll be right back’, “those putting their hand to the plow and turning back are not fit for the Kingdom."
We satisfy ourselves with the belief that we aren’t really turning back; we are just not doing this now. We think we can attend to this one thing first and then come back to the door. Delayed obedience is still disobedience. God’s timing is perfect.
Jesus knew his time had come. Jesus was prepared. Jesus accessed the grace to yield to the Fathers will and commit himself to His care.
Shall we do less?