ARE WE AVAILABLE TO GOD?
Ruth 1:15-21
Luke 9:57-62
"O God, you have been and always will be available for us when we have needed You. But God, are we always available for Your call on our lives and Your invitation to spend time with you? God, who through Your Son Christ Jesus, has made all of eternity available to us, forgive us for our lack of commitment to You. Amen."
During Lent, our church is looking at the season's themes of repentance, sacrifice, humility, commitment, faith and service. Of all of them, this week's theme of commitment from the standpoint of availability, really convicts me.
Like everyone else, I'm a very busy person, not just with the 24/7 responsibilities of my call as a minister and, like many of you, I have a home to maintain and a family. Don't get me wrong -- I'm not complaining. I love this call God has given me; I'm just saying it so easy to make my life all about the busyness instead of my commitment to Christ and making myself available to God.
The Bible is full of stories of ordinary people, like Ruth, who do extraordinary things through God because they have made themselves available to serve God.
When the widow, Naomi, Ruth's mother-in-law, bitterly resigns herself to the fact that the chances of her survival will be better back home in Israel, she releases her two daughter-in-laws from their obligation stay with Naomi for the rest of their lives. Naomi is giving Ruth and Orpah the gift of being able to return to their families and secure futures with new husbands and children of their own.
Ruth, making herself available to be the agent of God's compassionate mercy, says to her mother-in-law:
But Ruth said, “Don’t force me to leave you; don’t make me go home. Where you go, I go; and where you live, I’ll live. Your people are my people, your God is my god; where you die, I’ll die, and that’s where I’ll be buried, so help me God—not even death itself is going to come between us!” Ruth 1:15-16 (The Message)
No matter when, no matter where, I will follow you. A disciple of Jesus basically tells him the same thing. Jesus' reply poses this question to his eager follower, "Are you sure about that? Are you ready to give up the security, comforts and safety of home to follow me?" (see Luke 9:57-58)
Are we? Are we ready to be so committed and available to God that we are willing, even willing to be made willing, to take risks and step out of the comfort and security of the lives we know, to set aside our business, to follow, no matter when, no matter where?
Bear in mind that such a commitment of service is born out of and nurtured by an intentional relationship with God through Christ, making ourselves available to spend time with God in prayer and through reading His Word as well as participating in worship and small groups. Even Jesus took time out of his busy ministry schedule to spend time with God.
How many times have we said things like:
Luke 9:57-62
"O God, you have been and always will be available for us when we have needed You. But God, are we always available for Your call on our lives and Your invitation to spend time with you? God, who through Your Son Christ Jesus, has made all of eternity available to us, forgive us for our lack of commitment to You. Amen."
During Lent, our church is looking at the season's themes of repentance, sacrifice, humility, commitment, faith and service. Of all of them, this week's theme of commitment from the standpoint of availability, really convicts me.
Like everyone else, I'm a very busy person, not just with the 24/7 responsibilities of my call as a minister and, like many of you, I have a home to maintain and a family. Don't get me wrong -- I'm not complaining. I love this call God has given me; I'm just saying it so easy to make my life all about the busyness instead of my commitment to Christ and making myself available to God.
The Bible is full of stories of ordinary people, like Ruth, who do extraordinary things through God because they have made themselves available to serve God.
When the widow, Naomi, Ruth's mother-in-law, bitterly resigns herself to the fact that the chances of her survival will be better back home in Israel, she releases her two daughter-in-laws from their obligation stay with Naomi for the rest of their lives. Naomi is giving Ruth and Orpah the gift of being able to return to their families and secure futures with new husbands and children of their own.
Ruth, making herself available to be the agent of God's compassionate mercy, says to her mother-in-law:
But Ruth said, “Don’t force me to leave you; don’t make me go home. Where you go, I go; and where you live, I’ll live. Your people are my people, your God is my god; where you die, I’ll die, and that’s where I’ll be buried, so help me God—not even death itself is going to come between us!” Ruth 1:15-16 (The Message)
No matter when, no matter where, I will follow you. A disciple of Jesus basically tells him the same thing. Jesus' reply poses this question to his eager follower, "Are you sure about that? Are you ready to give up the security, comforts and safety of home to follow me?" (see Luke 9:57-58)
Are we? Are we ready to be so committed and available to God that we are willing, even willing to be made willing, to take risks and step out of the comfort and security of the lives we know, to set aside our business, to follow, no matter when, no matter where?
Bear in mind that such a commitment of service is born out of and nurtured by an intentional relationship with God through Christ, making ourselves available to spend time with God in prayer and through reading His Word as well as participating in worship and small groups. Even Jesus took time out of his busy ministry schedule to spend time with God.
How many times have we said things like:
- One of these days, I'm going to get around to praying and reading my Bible every day.
- One of these days, I'm going to get around to going to Sunday Worship more often.
- One of these days, I'm going to get around to getting myself up early enough to go to Sunday School.
- One of these days, I'm going get around to attending those Holy Week services.
- One of these days, I'm going to get around to volunteering for ....
For years, I said, "If something every happens to Tom, I'll get around and go into the ministry." One day, the Holy Spirit seemed to say to me, "Honey, something happens to that man every day. It's time to just do it."
Jesus knows that "getting around to it" means we're probably not going to. Jesus said in Luke 9:62 that whoever puts a hand to the plow and looks back, in other words focuses their life on the busyness of their lives will always find excuses not to follow me.
So what do I think that God is saying to us, including me? I think God is telling us that if we want lives that are more than just busyness, lives that are extraordinary, if we want a relationship with God that is so rich and rewarding; if we want to thrive as human beings, it's time to quit getting around to it and just do it and choose to make ourselves available to God.
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