Luke 9:57-62 – Comfort or Calling
As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:57-62 ESV)
Every day is full of decisions…
wake up or hit the snooze button,
whole grain cereal or pop tarts,
dress for comfort or for style,
go to the gym or take a nap,
turn on the TV or read a book?
In fact, life is full of decisions and some of these decisions will determine the course of our life. Who will I marry? Where will I work? Where will I live? For many of us in America our decisions will be determined by one concern: COMFORT.
Two thousand years ago those who wanted to follow Jesus faced a similar dilemma. Read today’s Bible verses again. These men and women wore confronted by Jesus and had life decisions to make for him.
Many of us, when we first embraced a relationship with Jesus had the attitude, “I will follow you wherever you go.” That is until we realized His call on our life could lead us to places we’d never expected to go and cost us more than we’d ever expected to sacrifice. There’s nothing comfortable about Jesus’ challenge to these would be followers in Luke 9. There’s nothing comfortable about Jesus’ calling on our lives today. The decision remains the same: will we choose our comfort or God’s calling?
In what areas of your life are your struggling with choosing comfort over what God is calling you to do? What specific steps of faith and sacrifice is He calling you to take?
