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JULY: The Kingdom of God

July 17

A WOULD-BE FOLLOWER

And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.
Luke 9:59

Here is someone whom our Lord invites to follow Him. "He said to another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:59-60). Our Lord challenged him and said, "Follow me!" And the man, you remember, responded by saying, "All right, I am coming, but 'suffer me first to go and bury my father.'"

What is the principle here? Well, our Lord is teaching this man the urgency of entering the kingdom of God at once, without a moment's delay. You must be right in your understanding of it, and then you must enter it immediately. Now let us be clear about that. Our Lord's statement sounds terrible, does it not? On the surface it sounds as if He was refusing this man permission to go home to bury his poor father who was dying. But it does not mean anything of the sort. If this man's father had been ill and had died, the son would not be with the Lord. The Jews were strict about this.

The question was that this young man says, "Yes, I am going to be a Christian, but not just now. I will be a Christian later on, when I have time. I am very busy at the moment. I am at the top of the ladder. I have great success ahead of me. I am beginning in my profession, or in my trade, or in my industry. Not yet! Oh, I like this teaching! I believe it is right; but I cannot do anything about it now."

A Thought to Ponder
Our Lord is teaching this man the urgency of entering the kingdom of God at once, without a moment's delay.

From The Kingdom of God, pp. 128-129.



Today’s devo is taken from Walking with God Day by Day © 2003 by Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

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