Are We Afraid To Do God's Will

Please stand for the reading of God’s Word.

Luke 9:59-62

59 He said to another man, "Follow me." But the man replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father."

60 Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God."

61 Still another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family."

62 Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."

(NIV)

(Prayer)

Imagine you are walking down a hall and there is a door ahead of you. God’s will is on the other side of this door. We wonder what is waiting on the other side of the door for us. Will God show us what is on the other side of this door? No! Why not? Because we first have to resolve an issue on this side of the door. If He is Lord, He has the right to determine the will for our lives. If we don’t afford Him that right, then we are not acknowledging Him as Lord. Most of the time that we are reluctant to follow God’s will usually means that we have some sin in our lives from which we haven’t repented. It may be the sin of pride, the sin of the love of money, sexual sins or some other sin. As long as our minds are set on this physical world, then we will never see God’s plan for our lives.

Why do we want to know what is on the other side of the door? Is it because we want to be able to make a choice as to whether we want to accept it or not? Some may open the door but keep one foot in place so the door can’t close behind them. Are we more knowing than God is? Are we more mighty than God is? No, of course not. So why do we try to control our own lives instead of accepting God’s will for our lives? God is all knowing, all loving and the Good Shepherd. Would a good shepherd lead his sheep into harms way? No! So why do we insist on doing it our way? Before I let Christ control my life, I thought that I could do a pretty good job of running my life and family. Looking back I now can see the many mistakes that I made, because of pride and wanting to be in control. Once I finally turned the control of my life over to Jesus, everything just seems to fall into place. Jesus is not only my Savior, but He is the Lord of my life. This means that He makes the decisions. He leads and I follow. Since I have allowed Jesus to be Lord over my life, it has been great. I don’t worry about things anymore, because I know that Christ is capable of leading my life.

Jesus said "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God." When we open that door and see God’s will for our lives and turn to look back then we are not letting Christ be the Lord of our lives. This is why Jesus told the man who wanted to follow Him, but first wanted to bury his father, to let the dead bury their own dead. God’s will for our lives must be first and foremost. Our love and faith in the Lord should be greater than the love of any material things that we process. I know that God’s love for me is more important than anything that I process. I have gotten to a point in my life where I yearn to be in fellowship with God constantly. I would rather be reading the Bible, listening to a sermon or really preaching the Gospel, than anything else. It kind of like loving your wife so much, that when you have to go on a business trip, you really miss her and want to be with her. This is how we should feel toward God. The greatest thing about God is that when I do go on a business trip I can and do take God with me.

Matt 19:16-22

16 Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?"

17 "Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments."

18 "Which ones?" the man inquired. Jesus replied, "’Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony,