The kingdom is coming.
Rev. {12:10}
And I heard
a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and
strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his
Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which
accused them before our God day and night.
Satan accuses us before God day and night. So it's safe to say that Satan accuses God always, without ceasing. He accuses us, you and I. He accuses us of what? Sin. Satan accuses us of being failures, unworthy of God, unworthy of being saved and yet God tells Him otherwise. Jesus, God's son became human, He emptied Himself to become human. God could not be killed, God could not remain in the spirit form and die, Jesus had to take on humanity- empty himself of His divinity. Jesus could not be tempted like we are if He didn't divest Himself of that part of Him. In becoming human Jesus had to prove to Satan that man, that humans could live sinless. If Jesus had used ANY power of His own to remain sinless Satan would have laughed and said of course a God could keep sinless we know that God and His Son can remain sinless, that isn't a question. Jesus had to be human. Jesus was born as a baby, born of a woman who had sinned, born with the ability to sin. If he'd been born without the ability to sin then there was no point to His trying to save us failures. Jesus relied fully on the Father, just as we can rely on the Father. Jesus was sinless because He relied on the Father fully. Satan accuses us humans of being failures, of being His, of not being anything that God would want and God tells Him otherwise. Jesus proved that humans were and are worthy of God's love.
Salvation is coming.
Strength is coming.
The Kingdom of God is coming.
The power of His Christ is coming.
Satan will be cast down.
Satan will have his end. He's wrong and he knows he is wrong about humans. He can accuse all he wants to and it's to no avail. We are saved through Christ.
Satan even knowing he's wrong wants to take as many humans with him as he can and that is his objective now, right now.
He's REAL!
Just as real as Jesus, as God, as the Holy Spirit. Satan is real.
Satan is real and he wants us. He stops at nothing to get us, to get to us, to claim us as his successes and God's failures.
God stopped and stops at nothing to save us- but ONLY if we choose to let Him. Satan doesn't care what we choose. We can choose God and Satan laughs and proceeds to try harder to get to us. God will not force us into anything, Satan will try to force us into anything that will make us his, anything and everything.
Salvation is coming.
The kingdom is coming.
Choose and be ready. Pray. Watch. Pray. Don't lose hope, don't lose faith.
By the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ may we be ready for Him when He comes and Satan is put down forever.
Amen.
6/7/10
Pro 14:12 There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
Pro 16:25 There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
A way--
H1870
derek
deh'-rek
From H1869; a road (as trodden); figuratively a course of life or mode of action
Right--
H3477
ya?sha?r
yaw-shawr'
From H3474; straight (literally or figuratively): - convenient, equity, Jasher, just, meet (-est), + pleased well right (-eous), straight, (most) upright (-ly, -ness).
Death--
H4194
ma?veth
maw'-veth
From H4191; death (natural or violent); concretely the dead, their place or state (hades); figuratively pestilence, ruin: - (be) dead ([-ly]), death, die (-d).
There is a way of life in which people believe they are doing the right thing, that their path in life is righteous, that they are upright. Unfortunately that path leads them to eternal death. Seriously, there is a deception in life that people have to be wary of realizing that maybe just maybe they are the ones being deceived. It's frightening to realize there is a way of life we can take in which we believe we are right but end up being completely wrong, wrong to the point it costs us salvation. Sure people will blow it off and say God knows my intentions were good and if He's like that I don't want any part of Him. If God is a God who will trick His people into thinking they are on the right road only to have them die eternally, well He's not much of a God. Do you understand that blaming God is of Satan? If people are living in an upright way they believe will give them eternal life they have the Word of God to measure their life against. We are given the Bible. We are given instructions, reproofs, encouragements in the Word of God. We can't for one moment be satisfied that we are righteous, that our path is righteous--
Isa 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
We have to cling to Christ and Christ's way, not our way. We have to have faith and hope in His way of life, in His righteousness.
Does this mean we should be evil and not walk upright, believing there is no hope in ourselves? Absolutely not. Our trust in Christ will prick our conscience often and we need to heed that nudging whenever it comes to us - right from wrong is revealed- choosing wrong over right is dangerous and deadly. If we're caught up in a very sinful way of life and I'm not just talking blatently sinful, but if we're caught up in a sinfilled way of life we need to throw ourselves constantly at the feet of Jesus praying for a way out through Him.
Yes, there is a way that seems right to man, we can't trust in our own ways. We need to trust solely in Christ's way.
Joh 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
6/7/11
Psa 71:5 For thou art my hope, O Lord GOD: thou art my trust from my youth.
What do you hope for? You do have a hope even if it's a small one, right? Think about it for a few moments, or longer if you need to. We live with hope. Very few live without hope in their lives, very few. While some people might live with a lot of hope for many things, others can live life with just a few hopes. We hope for good things for our children, we hope for good things for ourselves, we hope for good health, we hope for nice weather, we hope for gifts, we hope for love, we hope for long life, we hope for many things over the course of our lives.
In reality the hope we need to have should be in one place because all the hope we place in temporal things can fade away. Hope we place in the eternal Lord Jesus Christ our Savior will never fade away- not now, and not ever.
While we hope for our children to be successful in life- not necessarily rich monetary wise- but in many ways- is that hope always something that will be realized? Unfortunately, no. While we hope for ourselves many times our hopes are dashed aren't they, over and over some would say. We sometimes get what we hope for but more often than not we don't.
Placing hope in *things* of this world is foolish IF we don't keep that hope checked by realizing that nothing is promised to us in this life- not good health, not happiness in worldly things, not human love, not wealth, not friendship, not loving family, not peace in worldly ways, not children, not intellect, not employment, and on and on. We are NOT promised this world or anything in this world. So many want others to believe they are promised good in this world.
We are promised hope in our Lord.
We are promised happiness in our Lord.
We are promised eternal life in our Lord.
Our riches are heavenly riches.
Our hopes are heavenly hopes.
Our happiness is a heavenly happiness.
Psa 71:5 For thou art my hope, O Lord GOD
The Lord our God must be OUR hope first and foremost. Let's read a few more verses on hope--
Psa 39:7 And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee.
Jer 17:7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.
Lam 3:26 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.
1Th 5:8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation
Tit 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began
Tit 2:13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ
Tit 3:7 That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Heb 6:18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us
1Pe 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
1Pe 1:13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ
1Pe 1:21 Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.
1Jn 3:3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
Hope in God.
The blessed hope.
Lively hope.
We really need this HOPE more than any other hope we could possibly desire.
Is your hope in Christ? Or are you placing your hope in things not eternal?
Christ our Hope!
Christ our Kingdom!
Christ our Love!
Christ our everything!
In His love, His grace!
Always.
Amen.
6/9/11
Mat 8:18 Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the other side.
Mat 8:19 And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.
Mat 8:20 And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.
Jesus gave the commandment to depart from where He'd spent so much time expounding on life and the lessons people everywhere from there on in until the end of time would need to learn. He'd been there for a long time and the crowds of people there were huge. It was time to leave now, time to depart and when people heard this some had to speak out.
A scribe- one who teaches. A scribe- one of a type of people that Jesus said this about--
Mat 23:13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
Woe unto you scribes!
Woe unto you scribes who shut up the kingdom of heaven against men.
Woe unto you scribes who will NOT go in to heaven themselves.
Woe unto you scribes who will not suffer others who would go in-- to go in!
Scribes. And here was a scribe who was listening to Jesus, who was listening at the Master's feet, learning from His lips the lessons we so desperately need to learn. This scribe said to Jesus-
'Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest'
He wanted to follow Jesus no matter where he went! This is dedication, this is devotion, this is someone who was completely won over by the words of Christ and there were many that felt the same.
Did Jesus say to him - follow me? No. Jesus laid it all out for this eager disciple, this scribe…
'The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.'
Foxes have holes. This is true, Jesus would never speak an untruth. Foxes have hole to go to, foxes have homes, foxes go out and do their hunting and such but have a hole to return to at the end of their day's work. No fox is homeless, no fox wanders aimlessly about going from place to place. Foxes according to an online source may have many dens where they'll stay in winter months constantly, and in warmer months they spend a lot of time hunting returning to their den to rest. Foxes have holes. Foxes have a place to live.
Jesus also said 'birds have nests'. This is a fact, yes? Yes. Birds have nests. Birds have a home as well. Birds aren't wandering aimlessly without a place to return to, they have a nest.
Capping it off Jesus said 'the Son of man hath NOT where to lay his head'. Jesus HAD NO WHERE TO GO TO. Jesus had NO HOME. Jesus had less than a fox, or a bird in terms of a place to dwell. Jesus had NO place to call His own. The Son of man had no home. The Son of man was a wanderer, homeless.
Our Savior was homeless.
You might want to say that He could always have returned to His parents and carpentry, but that's not true. There was no going back and many people know what this is like. Many people start out on their own after being raised and have that sense of 'there's no going back' and it's a real thing. Whether that belief is something in them or a fact of their parents- either way it's real and as they begin their journey they don't always make it, do they.
Do you know anyone who is homeless?
Have you ever been homeless?
With our awful economy many people who never, ever imagined themselves homeless have become just that - homeless.
The foxes still have holes, the birds still have nests but these people don't have homes.
A lot of people who don't know what it's like to be homeless can't understand how people become homeless but there are many stories about how it comes to be. Tragedies, sickness, misfortune, love-less, so many things lead us to finding yourself homeless.
Jesus was telling the scribe who wanted to follow Him wherever He was going to go that they didn't have a destination at the end of the day, the week, the month of journeying. There wasn't a home base, there wasn't a place to belong and that scribe would have to take part in this sort of life- calling no place home. The scribe would be homeless.
Is it possible that the scribe had never known homelessness? Very, very possible. This thought, this truth Jesus was revealing to the scribe was for a reason. The very real possibility of being homeless had to be confronted. Following Jesus wasn't going to give this man a place to live, it wasn't going to give him a life of security. This man had to understand that he would be homeless if he were to choose to follow Jesus.
Imagine this happening to you for a moment. Seriously, step outside your comfort zone, step outside of your reality and into this man's. We know that most homeless do not CHOOSE that life, it happens to them. Now imagine CHOOSING to be homeless. No, the same circumstances are not available to us as they were to that scribe but use your imagination to put yourself there. You want to say you'd follow Jesus without hesitation, and that's logical, I want to say it too.
This man was being asked to embrace a life of homelessness by trusting in Jesus for ALL things. Follow this man (because to so many the fact He was God's son, a God-man, was not fully realized) follow this man and count on Him to give you everything- every bit of foot, every bit of shelter, every bit of clothing would need to be provided for by Jesus- the Master. Yes, come follow Him, but do not expect it to be a life of ease as you are used to experiencing.
Today we are called to trust just as much, aren't we?
Our faith has to be fully in our Savior!
We have to follow our Savior and He says to us as well that the life we are being called to is not going to be an easy one. We are NOT going to have a real home here anymore. We are not going to fit into the mold of the world, we CANNOT fit in and if we do we should worry. This isn't our world, this isn't our home.
That scribe wanted to follow Jesus and wanted Jesus to know that he wanted to follow Him wherever He went. Jesus wanted the scribe to understand that the life he was expressing interest in wasn't going to be a life filled with worldliness, there would be NO glamour in this life, none, no physical comforts. Follow but understand Who you are following.
By the grace of God may we understand and in understanding still choose to follow our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
In His love!
Amen.
And I heard
a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and
strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his
Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which
accused them before our God day and night.
Satan accuses us before God day and night. So it's safe to say that Satan accuses God always, without ceasing. He accuses us, you and I. He accuses us of what? Sin. Satan accuses us of being failures, unworthy of God, unworthy of being saved and yet God tells Him otherwise. Jesus, God's son became human, He emptied Himself to become human. God could not be killed, God could not remain in the spirit form and die, Jesus had to take on humanity- empty himself of His divinity. Jesus could not be tempted like we are if He didn't divest Himself of that part of Him. In becoming human Jesus had to prove to Satan that man, that humans could live sinless. If Jesus had used ANY power of His own to remain sinless Satan would have laughed and said of course a God could keep sinless we know that God and His Son can remain sinless, that isn't a question. Jesus had to be human. Jesus was born as a baby, born of a woman who had sinned, born with the ability to sin. If he'd been born without the ability to sin then there was no point to His trying to save us failures. Jesus relied fully on the Father, just as we can rely on the Father. Jesus was sinless because He relied on the Father fully. Satan accuses us humans of being failures, of being His, of not being anything that God would want and God tells Him otherwise. Jesus proved that humans were and are worthy of God's love.
Salvation is coming.
Strength is coming.
The Kingdom of God is coming.
The power of His Christ is coming.
Satan will be cast down.
Satan will have his end. He's wrong and he knows he is wrong about humans. He can accuse all he wants to and it's to no avail. We are saved through Christ.
Satan even knowing he's wrong wants to take as many humans with him as he can and that is his objective now, right now.
He's REAL!
Just as real as Jesus, as God, as the Holy Spirit. Satan is real.
Satan is real and he wants us. He stops at nothing to get us, to get to us, to claim us as his successes and God's failures.
God stopped and stops at nothing to save us- but ONLY if we choose to let Him. Satan doesn't care what we choose. We can choose God and Satan laughs and proceeds to try harder to get to us. God will not force us into anything, Satan will try to force us into anything that will make us his, anything and everything.
Salvation is coming.
The kingdom is coming.
Choose and be ready. Pray. Watch. Pray. Don't lose hope, don't lose faith.
By the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ may we be ready for Him when He comes and Satan is put down forever.
Amen.
6/7/10
Pro 14:12 There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
Pro 16:25 There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
A way--
H1870
derek
deh'-rek
From H1869; a road (as trodden); figuratively a course of life or mode of action
Right--
H3477
ya?sha?r
yaw-shawr'
From H3474; straight (literally or figuratively): - convenient, equity, Jasher, just, meet (-est), + pleased well right (-eous), straight, (most) upright (-ly, -ness).
Death--
H4194
ma?veth
maw'-veth
From H4191; death (natural or violent); concretely the dead, their place or state (hades); figuratively pestilence, ruin: - (be) dead ([-ly]), death, die (-d).
There is a way of life in which people believe they are doing the right thing, that their path in life is righteous, that they are upright. Unfortunately that path leads them to eternal death. Seriously, there is a deception in life that people have to be wary of realizing that maybe just maybe they are the ones being deceived. It's frightening to realize there is a way of life we can take in which we believe we are right but end up being completely wrong, wrong to the point it costs us salvation. Sure people will blow it off and say God knows my intentions were good and if He's like that I don't want any part of Him. If God is a God who will trick His people into thinking they are on the right road only to have them die eternally, well He's not much of a God. Do you understand that blaming God is of Satan? If people are living in an upright way they believe will give them eternal life they have the Word of God to measure their life against. We are given the Bible. We are given instructions, reproofs, encouragements in the Word of God. We can't for one moment be satisfied that we are righteous, that our path is righteous--
Isa 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
We have to cling to Christ and Christ's way, not our way. We have to have faith and hope in His way of life, in His righteousness.
Does this mean we should be evil and not walk upright, believing there is no hope in ourselves? Absolutely not. Our trust in Christ will prick our conscience often and we need to heed that nudging whenever it comes to us - right from wrong is revealed- choosing wrong over right is dangerous and deadly. If we're caught up in a very sinful way of life and I'm not just talking blatently sinful, but if we're caught up in a sinfilled way of life we need to throw ourselves constantly at the feet of Jesus praying for a way out through Him.
Yes, there is a way that seems right to man, we can't trust in our own ways. We need to trust solely in Christ's way.
Joh 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
6/7/11
Psa 71:5 For thou art my hope, O Lord GOD: thou art my trust from my youth.
What do you hope for? You do have a hope even if it's a small one, right? Think about it for a few moments, or longer if you need to. We live with hope. Very few live without hope in their lives, very few. While some people might live with a lot of hope for many things, others can live life with just a few hopes. We hope for good things for our children, we hope for good things for ourselves, we hope for good health, we hope for nice weather, we hope for gifts, we hope for love, we hope for long life, we hope for many things over the course of our lives.
In reality the hope we need to have should be in one place because all the hope we place in temporal things can fade away. Hope we place in the eternal Lord Jesus Christ our Savior will never fade away- not now, and not ever.
While we hope for our children to be successful in life- not necessarily rich monetary wise- but in many ways- is that hope always something that will be realized? Unfortunately, no. While we hope for ourselves many times our hopes are dashed aren't they, over and over some would say. We sometimes get what we hope for but more often than not we don't.
Placing hope in *things* of this world is foolish IF we don't keep that hope checked by realizing that nothing is promised to us in this life- not good health, not happiness in worldly things, not human love, not wealth, not friendship, not loving family, not peace in worldly ways, not children, not intellect, not employment, and on and on. We are NOT promised this world or anything in this world. So many want others to believe they are promised good in this world.
We are promised hope in our Lord.
We are promised happiness in our Lord.
We are promised eternal life in our Lord.
Our riches are heavenly riches.
Our hopes are heavenly hopes.
Our happiness is a heavenly happiness.
Psa 71:5 For thou art my hope, O Lord GOD
The Lord our God must be OUR hope first and foremost. Let's read a few more verses on hope--
Psa 39:7 And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee.
Jer 17:7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.
Lam 3:26 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.
1Th 5:8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation
Tit 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began
Tit 2:13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ
Tit 3:7 That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Heb 6:18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us
1Pe 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
1Pe 1:13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ
1Pe 1:21 Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.
1Jn 3:3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
Hope in God.
The blessed hope.
Lively hope.
We really need this HOPE more than any other hope we could possibly desire.
Is your hope in Christ? Or are you placing your hope in things not eternal?
Christ our Hope!
Christ our Kingdom!
Christ our Love!
Christ our everything!
In His love, His grace!
Always.
Amen.
6/9/11
Mat 8:18 Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the other side.
Mat 8:19 And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.
Mat 8:20 And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.
Jesus gave the commandment to depart from where He'd spent so much time expounding on life and the lessons people everywhere from there on in until the end of time would need to learn. He'd been there for a long time and the crowds of people there were huge. It was time to leave now, time to depart and when people heard this some had to speak out.
A scribe- one who teaches. A scribe- one of a type of people that Jesus said this about--
Mat 23:13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
Woe unto you scribes!
Woe unto you scribes who shut up the kingdom of heaven against men.
Woe unto you scribes who will NOT go in to heaven themselves.
Woe unto you scribes who will not suffer others who would go in-- to go in!
Scribes. And here was a scribe who was listening to Jesus, who was listening at the Master's feet, learning from His lips the lessons we so desperately need to learn. This scribe said to Jesus-
'Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest'
He wanted to follow Jesus no matter where he went! This is dedication, this is devotion, this is someone who was completely won over by the words of Christ and there were many that felt the same.
Did Jesus say to him - follow me? No. Jesus laid it all out for this eager disciple, this scribe…
'The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.'
Foxes have holes. This is true, Jesus would never speak an untruth. Foxes have hole to go to, foxes have homes, foxes go out and do their hunting and such but have a hole to return to at the end of their day's work. No fox is homeless, no fox wanders aimlessly about going from place to place. Foxes according to an online source may have many dens where they'll stay in winter months constantly, and in warmer months they spend a lot of time hunting returning to their den to rest. Foxes have holes. Foxes have a place to live.
Jesus also said 'birds have nests'. This is a fact, yes? Yes. Birds have nests. Birds have a home as well. Birds aren't wandering aimlessly without a place to return to, they have a nest.
Capping it off Jesus said 'the Son of man hath NOT where to lay his head'. Jesus HAD NO WHERE TO GO TO. Jesus had NO HOME. Jesus had less than a fox, or a bird in terms of a place to dwell. Jesus had NO place to call His own. The Son of man had no home. The Son of man was a wanderer, homeless.
Our Savior was homeless.
You might want to say that He could always have returned to His parents and carpentry, but that's not true. There was no going back and many people know what this is like. Many people start out on their own after being raised and have that sense of 'there's no going back' and it's a real thing. Whether that belief is something in them or a fact of their parents- either way it's real and as they begin their journey they don't always make it, do they.
Do you know anyone who is homeless?
Have you ever been homeless?
With our awful economy many people who never, ever imagined themselves homeless have become just that - homeless.
The foxes still have holes, the birds still have nests but these people don't have homes.
A lot of people who don't know what it's like to be homeless can't understand how people become homeless but there are many stories about how it comes to be. Tragedies, sickness, misfortune, love-less, so many things lead us to finding yourself homeless.
Jesus was telling the scribe who wanted to follow Him wherever He was going to go that they didn't have a destination at the end of the day, the week, the month of journeying. There wasn't a home base, there wasn't a place to belong and that scribe would have to take part in this sort of life- calling no place home. The scribe would be homeless.
Is it possible that the scribe had never known homelessness? Very, very possible. This thought, this truth Jesus was revealing to the scribe was for a reason. The very real possibility of being homeless had to be confronted. Following Jesus wasn't going to give this man a place to live, it wasn't going to give him a life of security. This man had to understand that he would be homeless if he were to choose to follow Jesus.
Imagine this happening to you for a moment. Seriously, step outside your comfort zone, step outside of your reality and into this man's. We know that most homeless do not CHOOSE that life, it happens to them. Now imagine CHOOSING to be homeless. No, the same circumstances are not available to us as they were to that scribe but use your imagination to put yourself there. You want to say you'd follow Jesus without hesitation, and that's logical, I want to say it too.
This man was being asked to embrace a life of homelessness by trusting in Jesus for ALL things. Follow this man (because to so many the fact He was God's son, a God-man, was not fully realized) follow this man and count on Him to give you everything- every bit of foot, every bit of shelter, every bit of clothing would need to be provided for by Jesus- the Master. Yes, come follow Him, but do not expect it to be a life of ease as you are used to experiencing.
Today we are called to trust just as much, aren't we?
Our faith has to be fully in our Savior!
We have to follow our Savior and He says to us as well that the life we are being called to is not going to be an easy one. We are NOT going to have a real home here anymore. We are not going to fit into the mold of the world, we CANNOT fit in and if we do we should worry. This isn't our world, this isn't our home.
That scribe wanted to follow Jesus and wanted Jesus to know that he wanted to follow Him wherever He went. Jesus wanted the scribe to understand that the life he was expressing interest in wasn't going to be a life filled with worldliness, there would be NO glamour in this life, none, no physical comforts. Follow but understand Who you are following.
By the grace of God may we understand and in understanding still choose to follow our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
In His love!
Amen.