Reading a passage in Mark this morning, it really caught my attention how Jesus would tell people he helped to not speak about what happened, but how time and time again, they would ignore the request from Jesus.
36 Then Jesus ordered the people not to speak of it to anyone; but the more he ordered them not to, the more they told it.
-Mark 7:36 (GNT)
37 “Those who love their father or mother more than me are not fit to be my disciples; those who love their son or daughter more than me are not fit to be my disciples. 38 Those who do not take up their cross and follow in my steps are not fit to be my disciples.
- Matthew 10:37-38 (GNT)
Have you ever truly considered these words of Jesus?
Have you ever thought about what Jesus truly meant by these words?
I started to read the book Radical by David Platt this morning, and in the first couple of pages I have been challenged so much that I have to share this…
Now, let us look at a piece of scripture…
57 As they went on their way, a man said to Jesus, “I will follow you wherever you go.”
58 Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lie down and rest.”
59 He said to another man, “Follow me.” But that man said, “Sir, first let me go back and bury my father.”
60 Jesus answered, “Let the dead bury their own dead. You go and proclaim the Kingdom of God.”
61 Someone else said, “I will follow you, sir; but first let me go and say good-bye to my family.”
62 Jesus said to him, “Anyone who starts to plow and then keeps looking back is of no use for the Kingdom of God.”
- Luke 9:57-62 (GNT)
34 Then the King will say to the people on his right, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father! Come and possess the kingdom which has been prepared for you ever since the creation of the world. 35 I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me a drink; I was a stranger and you received me in your homes, 36 naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you took care of me, in prison and you visited me.’
- Matthew 25:34-36 (GNT)
Every once in a while I get to a junction in the road where I simply don’t want to carry on. I want to run away and go hide in a cave somewhere until the world ends. These last couple of days was like that. I came home after church on Sunday morning and I simply wanted to run away for no apparent reason.
1 “At that time the Kingdom of heaven will be like this. Once there were ten young women who took their oil lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish, and the other five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any extra oil with them, 4 while the wise ones took containers full of oil for their lamps.
5 The bridegroom was late in coming, so they began to nod and fall asleep.
6 “It was already midnight when the cry rang out, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come and meet him!’ 7 The ten young women woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8 Then the foolish ones said to the wise ones, ‘Let us have some of your oil, because our lamps are going out.’ 9 ‘No, indeed,’ the wise ones answered, ‘there is not enough for you and for us. Go to the store and buy some for yourselves.’10 So the foolish ones went off to buy some oil; and while they were gone, the bridegroom arrived. The five who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast, and the door was closed.
11 “Later the others arrived. ‘Sir, sir! Let us in!’ they cried out.12 ‘Certainly not! I don’t know you,’ the bridegroom answered.”
13 And Jesus concluded, “Watch out, then, because you do not know the day or the hour.
- Matthew 25:1-13 (GNT)
