It can be discouraging to see how low attendance is in worship. And if you were able to ask each person who is not there why they are not there you will usually get some good answers. They forgot. They overslept. They were out late the night before. We have things to do.
The reason for not attending church is not important. What is important is that we demonstrate to God where are priorities are by what we do. We can talk a good game and give good reasons for not being able to serve the Lord, but God knows what our motivation is.
In this passage from Luke Jesus deals with some people who might want to be his followers. What does Jesus urge in verse 59? Why won’t the person follow? What does the next person say in verse 61? What is Jesus’ response?
Jesus summons one man to be a follower, but that man wants to delay the commitment until after his father’s funeral. Then Jesus tells him to let the dead bury the dead. What kind of unfeeling comment is that?
The next person volunteers to follow Jesus, but can’t come immediately because he wants to say his good-byes to his family. To that Jesus explains that anyone who puts his hand to the plow is not fit for serving the kingdom of God. At first glance Jesus seems a bit hard-hearted in this little segment of the gospels.
But from what we know of Jesus we can assume that there is good reason to what he is saying to all of those who claim to be willing to follow Jesus. It is very likely the man waiting to bury his father has a father who is still alive and well. It is very likely that the one who wants to say good-bye to his family will never have the courage to follow Jesus once he sees his loved ones again.
The point to these encounters is not that Jesus doesn’t care about the lives of people. The point is that Jesus can see through all the excuses people make for not becoming followers of Christ.
Every one of us can have plenty of reasons for not doing what we ought to do in our walk of faith. The reasons are not important. What is important is that we commit ourselves to serving God and that we not allow any excuses to get in our way.
DAILY CHALLENGE: How can you commit to becoming a follower of Christ?
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