Some Sundays I feel like my mind tunes out and it's all I can do to pull myself together and keep up. Others, like yesterday, are gripping, compelling, and convicting. By Sundays, I am referring to our time "with the church" (there you go, Naomi:) ), where the pastor is "cutting it strait" from the Word of God (which by the way, he always does...I take full credit for the days that my mind wanders!)
Mark 1: 17-18 says, "Then Jesus said to them, 'Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.' They immediately left their nets and followed Him." I love hearing the Word of God taught, but it's especially meaningful when it hits home, as though God really is speaking directly to me with some personal application.
In brief summary, Jesus issues us a command when He says, "Follow Me." How will you respond? There are 5 ways for a Christian to respond: obey, repent, submit, commit, and be humble. I believe that Jesus has commanded me (even me) to follow Him, and I have said "Yes." But am I living like it? As I listened to the sermon yesterday, my heart kept being pricked with the applications of all this for motherhood, so you get to be privy to my rambling thoughts on a few of the points made on Sunday.
Obey An instant response; drop everything now and follow Him. Simon and Andrew "immediately left their nets and followed Him." I'm a believer, so what does that look like for me now? Do I obey when prompted? Am I always trying to finish what I've started, check off my list, when Christ is calling me to follow Him, now? i.e., love my husband, my children, my neighbor. Am I willing to leave behind my plans in order to daily follow Christ (and live out the Gospel), or is it only after I've finished what I'm doing?
What about those daily and constant "interruptions" that come along with being called a Mommy. Do I view them as "interruptions," or as God's direction in my life, and as a way to follow Christ, now; an opportunity to love a child, train a child, serve a husband, or bless a neighbor. Case and point: a sweet, sleepy-eyed child comes down the stairs a few minutes before expected, while I am in the middle of my precious Quiet Time with God. How will I respond? Will I see this as "hands on training" from God, an opportunity to "fish for men" (love and live the Gospel to my children so they will some day follow Him)? Or will I react the opposite way, as I have in the past...
Submit Am I obeying Christ's commands and living it before my children? Does Christ "call the shots" (a Blakey-ism) in my life? Am I submitting to God's authority in my life, or am I persisting in my own way?
Commit Am I committed? What is Christ calling me to drop? Will I do it whole-heartedly? (because that's what Jesus wants.) Am I dropping myself? Meaning, am I willing to completely give up my personal desires and selfish wants to obey Christ? To serve Him and do what He has for me in this life (for me it's "wifing," mothering, and neighboring).
I keep picturing myself bending over my work, whether it be dishes, phone calls, cleaning the bathroom, or blogging, and being needed by my family. Am I willing to obey God now and minister and take care of the need? For me, this is following Him. Living out the Gospel to my husband, my children, and my neighbors. Putting others first, ministering to their needs, and taking every opportunity to proclaim the wonders of the Saviour who died for me and who lives.
Jesus never said it would be easy, he just said to "Follow Me." May you and I moms (or wives, or students, or missionaries, whatever you are) be filled with God's grace as we seek to obey His command.
1 comment:
I, too, found myself being "pricked" by the sermon on Sunday in relationship to my home and this role the Lord has entrusted to me. My first priority and call in ministry is to be to my family, and I sat and thought through the godly pursuits I am to manifest in my home laid out in Titus 2 so that "the Word of God may not be dishonored." To obey, repent, submit, commit and be humble -- how I, too, desire to follow HIM!
Post a Comment