Feb 7: Lots to give up

Mathew 8:19-20

19 Then a certain scribe came and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.

20 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

There are some things that Jesus says which just makes you stop in your tracks and make you ponder a long time about it. A really long time sometimes. This is one such verse. Its challenging, thought provoking, contemplative, confusing, and most of the time (in my opinion at least) something that most would skip over. But let’s try and reckon with it briefly.

The context is Jesus is gaining a multitude of a following from all the miracles and healings He is doing and naturally many people want to be part of His team. They too wanted to move in the power of God, and do some cool things like Jesus did. One of those men in a moment of sudden inspiration announces to Jesus that he will follow Jesus wherever He goes. The man wanted to switch his career from record keeping in an office (i.e. a scribe) to being an itinerant preacher and teacher (like Jesus). Travelling around the region and meeting so many new people would be a breath of fresh air and the man might have been quite excited imagining his life as a travelling evangelist. But when He heard the requirement that Jesus had for this role, I am sure the man changed His plans. So what was the requirement?

If I were to summarize Jesus’ words in contemporary words, it would something like this:

Don’t expect to have a comfortable place to stay or get 8 hours of sleep on your cozy mattress, with the air-conditioning keeping you cool and the blanket keeping your feet warm.

Following Jesus meant giving up the comforts of this world, and going out of our way to meet other’s needs. Jesus could not be picky on which house to stay in, or what food to eat, or even how many hours He could sleep! In this matter, the animals had a better deal in that they had their cozy nest or hole to rest in. Can you imagine this for a moment? This is the Son of God speaking. He could have a chosen an entirely different path for doing ministry. He could have lived like a king, and would be fully justified in doing so. But no, He chose to come down to the level of the common people, the suffering people, the perishing people – and help them at their point of need. He always put other’s comforts above Him – be it eating, sleeping or resting.

I’ve often wondered, how can I as a follower of Christ practice these things? Even as I write this devotion, I have a comfortable place to sit, with the AC set at just the right temperature, a cup of soothing tea, and my favorite noise-cancelling headphones.

Oh, and a warm pair of clothes and a comfortable pair of socks, and a plush chair, a nice table to write on, a fantastic laptop... I can keep going on. If I had none of these things at my disposal, would I still follow Christ?

I want to. I really want to. And so I pray like this...

“Lord, I am eternally grateful for all your blessings in my life but help me not to get too comfortable with anything in this world. Help me instead to be focused on my upward call of following You. Give me the strength to give up things that hinder my walk with you. And to do the things that you ask me to without delay. In Jesus name, Amen.”

Let us take the time today to ask the Lord what He wants us to give up in our life. To the rich young ruler who came to Him, he was asked to give up everything that owned! (Mark 10). To the person who loved sleep, He said "no place to lay your head on" if you are coming after Me. To the one who was too busy with family affairs, He said "let the dead bury their own dead". As you ask God the question, it will be revealed to you what it is that you need to give up.

The Lord be with you.