Will you follow, will you obey?

Yesterday, Jan. 3, was my husband's birthday. He had a grand celebration and a belated Christmas with family and friends. The day before, on Saturday, we attended a funeral for a longtime member of our church. He would have been 100 years of age in February. But his life here on earth was fulfilled and the Lord took him home.

Earlier on Saturday I did my devotional study, which led me to Luke 9:57, "Lord, I will follow You wherever you go." My thought was we should not say, Lord, I will follow You wherever You go, and then find excuses. It is excuses we find too readily, reasons why something won't work, even when the Lord tells us to do it. Whether we are in Christ or in our selves, we all face similar trials and tribulations. How we respond, react, shows our true colors, our true allegiance. For all the new beginnings, the new starts we desire, do we continue to make excuses or do we define ourselves by following the Lord in everything?

Do we say, "Lord, I will follow You wherever You go, ... but let me first go and bury my father ... let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house?" (Luke 9:57, 59, 61) But Jesus says, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God." (Luke 9:62)

According to Dietrich Bonhoeffer, "Fear is the net that evil throws over us, so that we become entangled and soon fall. Those who are afraid have already fallen. If we are on a difficult mountain climb and are suddenly consumed with fear, we will surely stumble. Hence, such anxious good intentions do us no good. We can certainly never make a new beginning with them."

Fear.... we can't succeed. Do we rely on ourselves or do we seek that greater power -- the Almighty God -- to overcome our fears, and ultimately the evil that consumes us? The title of Bonhoeffer's devotional, "I want to live these days with You," depicts how I would like to live my life.

Only You
Have the answers
to all I seek
to all there is

Only You
can enable me
and protect me
guide me along the paths
chosen

Only You
can be my best.