Fully persuaded? A call to obedience

Think about all the things that we say yes to daily; the things that we don’t even want to do, the things that we are unsure about, the things that we say yes to knowing that it may have some negative consequences. Now, think about why is it so difficult for us to say yes to Christ? We say yes to so many things yet when Jesus gives us a command we answer Him as if He’s given us a multiple choice question like we have options in obeying Him. The Word tells us in Matthew 5:37, “But let your communication be yea, yea; nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil” (KJV).  So why do so many of us continue to give Jesus a “maybe, not right now, I can’t/don’t want to do it” type of response? A command is not an essay question for us to give this long drawn out response as to why we can’t do what He has told us to do right now.

There are so many believers that have so many excuses as to why they can’t fully submit to Christ and a lot of it has to do with them having that King Agrippa spirit. You know the one that’s not quite fully persuaded to follow Christ yet (Acts 26:28). They’ve heard the Word, know who Jesus is, but has yet to truly make a commitment to serving Him because they still feel as though they have other options or time. They haven’t made up in their mind whether or not they will really serve Christ because they don’t know if it is something that they really want to do yet. They don’t want to lose themselves and they still think that they are capable of going through life their way.

Just follow me…I developed benign tumors a couple of years ago and I had a surgery to have three removed in January of last year. After that new ones continued to grow and they kept getting larger and I was talking to my doctor about my frustration with it and she pretty much said you either learn to live with them or you keep having this surgery to have them removed. So I’m thinking there has to be a way to get these things under control so I go on Google to see of any “natural” remedies or alternatives to surgery and the only thing I could find was trying a vegetarian diet to help keep the tumors under control. I’m thinking uhm no! I love me some chicken, forget the red meat and pork I can’t do without my chicken!!! So I tried exercising, eating healthier (well somewhat…) and anything else I could think of to try and get these bad boys under control. Flash forward, I go back to the doctor and they’re continuing to grow. I was tired, upset, frustrated, and anything else you can think of. I decided three months ago to try out this whole vegetarian diet and that decision came about because I had finally gotten to a point of desperation where I tried everything else and it didn’t work. I gave up my old eating habits, the things I loved (all things chicken), and walked into this foreign territory because I didn’t want to continue dealing with the same thing.

I say all this to say thay you don't have to wait until you hit rock bottom to finally submit to Christ but some of us need to get to that place of desperation with Jesus where we realize that we’ve tried everything else and it doesn’t work. Where we are so tired of dealing with the same mess; tired of falling over the same stumbling blocks; tired of hitting the same brick wall. We know what the answer is but we keep avoiding it because we aren’t willing to fully commit and walk into this unknown territory and leave what we use to know behind to follow Him. We don’t want to give up our lives to serve Christ but let’s be reminded that Jesus tells the people “for whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it” (Matthew 16:25, KJV). Come close, let me share with you a little secret; YOU DON’T BELONG TO YOURSELF! Your life is not your own! (1 Corinthians 6:19). You were bought with a price; a price that only Jesus could pay when He died for our sins on Calvary. Stop trying to figure out a life that does not belong to you! People always say you need to go and have all these experiences in order to find yourself...NO you need to go find Jesus. 

   Now on the other hand, you have those who are ready to follow Christ but they make the mistake of trying to bring their old baggage into their new relationship with Christ. In Luke 9:3, Jesus tells His disciples, “take nothing for your journey, neither staff, nor bag, neither bread, neither money; neither have two coats apiece” (KJV). Jesus sent His disciples out to do the work and told them to not bring anything with them. Think about when you’re traveling; the more luggage that you have, the slower you move. It takes you longer to get to your destination because you have to wait at the airport to get all your mess and then carry it out as it weighs you down. It’s time for us to clean up the clutter. Too often people try to live for Christ while carrying excess baggage that He told them to lay aside! There are too many people who continue to hold on to things that are killing them spiritually and some naturally. They hold on to dead relationships, addictions, anger and unforgiveness, and they wonder why they can’t go forward. Let it go! Jesus wants His people to stop waiting at baggage claims to pick up the baggage that was dropped off at the beginning of their destination. Get rid of the distractions and the things that are cluttering you from getting closer to Jesus. I get tired of hearing people say that God can bless your mess. It’s not because I don’t think that He can because He can do all things, but when are we going to get tired of continuously giving God mess???

I told God I wanted to be obedient to Him and that I wanted to fully submit my life over to Him and you know what the first thing was that He told me to do? It wasn’t to go start a ministry, it wasn’t to preach, and it wasn’t to write a book. He showed me the word CLUTTER and said get rid of it. He showed me that He needed to me to get rid of the junk, the clutter, both spiritually and naturally to allow room for Him to come in. I’ll be honest, He told me to clean up my room to make room for His presence. You wouldn’t invite people to come to your house messy so don’t welcome My presence into your mess…yup messed me all kinds of up! He showed me to be obedient in the small things first and then He would give me the bigger things. We have to show ourselves to be faithful in the small things so that God can see that we have enough character to handle the bigger tasks (Matthew 25:14-28).

            Obedience is what will open the door to your purpose. So often we look at what other people have accomplished in God and we want what they have. Be content with your portion. God created each of us with a purpose in mind and what He created for us is not going to be for anyone else. We have to learn to stay in our lane. When you’re on the highway, if you get into the fast lane and you’re going below the speed limit or even doing the speed limit people will try to run you over. Stop trying to get into other people’s lane because that can destroy you. You will get run over, messed up, and broken trying to live out someone elses purpose. You’re not equipped to handle what God gave to them; He will equip you to handle what He has for you and you alone. What God created for you will not belong to anyone else. Stop looking at what everybody else is doing and keep your eyes on Christ. Don’t lose sight of what God has commanded of you. Every day wake up and commit to submitting to Christ and laying down your life to follow God’s will for your life and not your own. Choose today to set aside all the things that have distracted you and gotten you off course from serving God. Repent, lay aside your clutter, and walk in Him.