YEAR’S AGO my brothers would go out in a boat on the Pacific Ocean and go fishing. They would bring their catch home and my sister Joyce and I would clean the fish. For the most part it was okay; we knew a fish fry was on the menu for the next day. One day while we were cleaning the fish, I opened the belly of a Barracuda and a bunch of little baby fishes, still moving around, spilled out onto the garage floor. That ended my fish cleaning days!
I WAS REMINDED of that experience while thinking about people who hesitate accepting Jesus Christ as their Savior, because they want to get their lives in order before they take that step. They want to get rid of some of the nasty habits and clean themselves up before they make a life time commitment to the one who is waiting and willing to help do that very same thing for them.
WHEN JESUS called his Apostles to follow Him, He said; “Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” Don’t you suppose He meant that HE would not only teach them how, but would get them all ready to do it by cleaning them up?
“AS THEY WERE going along the road, a man 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.” But He said to him; “Leave the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you , go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” 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
“FOLLOW ME” gives me pause to question, what Jesus has in mind. Obviously His command takes precedence over all other duties we have or would have established, when we see that we have a need for the Savior. What was the circumstance for you, when you heard the call to follow Jesus? I was too young to consider my future, let alone consider a nature that I was to come into the future with. However, I made the choice because It seemed right!
AS I GREW more and more into the ways of God’s kingdom I was torn between what God required, and what my desires were. I would strain at the bit, and each time I found myself struggling. Many times over, I would relax and give into the life I was developing within the church. It was so wonderful for me! I felt not only loved by God but by His people. I know that those who knew me early on, had questions of their own, but when I married I discovered I didn’t have to change what God already had given me. My husband, and I together, have found a life in God’s kingdom!
“HE SAVED US, not because of deeds done by us to righteousness, but in virtue of His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit, which He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior.” Titus 3:5-6 Waiting to come until we have made ourselves presentable, is causing us to delay our becoming a child of God who has been justified by His grace and received the hope of eternal life. Do not procrastinate or you will be lost forever!
IN ROMANS 12 Paul tells us to not be conformed to this world but to be transformed by the renewal of our mind. He is saying that we should just present our bodies as a sacrifice, already to be holy and acceptable to God. When Jesus went to the cross he was preparing our room; a place for us; we were already acceptable to God to be holy even, while we were in an unholy state.
SO I ASK YOU TODAY; “Are you ready, for the kingdom? Can you step out and say; “I believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the Living God?” Can you take that step and be lowered into the watery grave of baptism? When Jesus said; “Come all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest; can you say; “Jesus I come!” Can you? Or are you still trying to clean yourself up before you can give yourself to the Savior? By Jane Ann Crenshaw 3/16/13
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