19 Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”
20 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
21 Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
22 But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” Matthew 8:19-22
"Our struggle with excuses is the test of our commitment to Christ."-David Nasser. For every chance we have to obey God, there are several sensible reasons to turn away. For the teacher of the law, Jesus stated that while he had wealth and comfort, he'd have to let that go it. Mr Nasser pointed out that one of the greatest examples of this, was Mother Teressa. She felt conviction to serve the poor and sick in the poorest city in India. She gave up comfort to do what God had called her to do. And because of her kindness, she was able to share the love of God with presidents and kings! The second man, who needed to bury his father, also had an excuse and a legit one at that. But Jesus was making the point, that you have to put your love for him before even the love of your own family.
Each day we are faced with decisions, some very small and some that will affect us very deeply. Some have clear cut answers of what is right and wrong, others we go deep in prayer about. Some of our decisions affect not only us, but others as well. Will I live by example? Will I be kind to that new person or join in on the gossip ring as we try to assume who they really are? Will I follow what Jesus has commanded of me, or choose the easy way out? Should I watch movies and TV shows with skin and violence, even though I know it doesn't honor God?
Mr Nasser gave a perfect example of his own life. One Friday night he went to the movie rental store and went to the shelves. He grabbed what was left, as it was Friday night and most everything had been gotten already, knowing that it really was not something that he should have been renting. But he shared that he though, I am a strong enough Christian to enjoy the good parts and look past the bad, so he gave the excuse and proceeded to get the movies. He took the movies up to the front and handed over his credit card. He said that as the clerk slid the video's past the metal detectors, God must have looked at his angels and said, "Watch this, David is about to get busted". For as he stepped passed the detectors, he heard "Hey David! Nasser! How you doing?!" Nasser's response was "Hey bud..." code for, who are you again? It was one of his students. "Dave you spoke at a conference that I attended last year, I gave my life over to Christ! Hey me and some of my buddys from bible study are going to my house to watch some movies, and since there is nothing left, why don't you come? we can watch whatever you have." David's heart stopped as he reached for the movies he had picked out. As he reached, he realized, there were no other movies up on the counter but his. The student laid eyes on the movies and his face dropped. David turned to the clerk and told him, "I don't want these movies anymore". "Do you want your money back?", David replied, "No, I just don't want them." He then went home, to sit in the dark and reflect.
As Mr. Nasser put it, this isn't about rules, and about which movies to watch. What this lesson is truly about is this: When we truly understand the sacrifice of Jesus, we won't try to see what we can get away with, we will see how much we can honor God.
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