Not choosing is still a choice!
No Choice Is Still a Choice
Scripture: Matthew 8:19–22
“19 And a scribe came up 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.’ 21 Another of the disciples said to him, ‘Lord, let me first go and bury my father.’ 22 And Jesus said to him, ‘Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.’”
A popular gift among children and teenagers is a handwritten coupon book for their loved ones. The coupons may include things like cutting the grass, babysitting for free, or unloading the dishwasher. I firmly believe many of these coupons are given with no intention of ever having them cashed in.
Imagine the conversation:
“I would like my free babysitting tomorrow!”
“Well…tomorrow night doesn’t work. I already have plans. If only you had asked for today.”
“Oh, today works too! What time can you be here?”
“Yeah…today isn’t going to work either. If only you had asked yesterday…”
On and on the excuses would come.
This is the picture Jesus is bringing forth in Matthew 8. We say we want to follow Him, but we want to follow tomorrow…or later down the road. Today we have plans. Today we need to take care of a few things. We want to follow Jesus—just not right now.
We learned on Sunday that no choice is still a choice. Delaying a decision is making a decision.
We are all tempted by this. We are all prone to kick the can down the road so we do not have to deal with an issue in the moment.
This procrastination creates problems with wrinkled laundry, moldy dishes, and unfinished responsibilities, but I am less concerned about those things.
How does delayed obedience affect your spiritual life?
What areas of your life are you postponing surrender in?
What do you know needs to be done, but you keep putting off until tomorrow?
Not to scare you, but to remind you of the truth: James 4 teaches us that our life is but a mist. We are not guaranteed tomorrow, though the future occupies so much of our thinking.
Delayed obedience is still disobedience.
What is God asking you to surrender today? A relationship? A habit? Your pride? Your time?
Stop pushing obedience into a future that is never promised. Follow Jesus today.
