....ahead

Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose his own soul?"' Luke 9:23-25

One night, my wife and I were in the mall needing to make some returns to a couple of stores.  It was near closing time when we left the first store and the other store was on the other end of the mall.  As we began to walk to the next store, my wife said, “Tim, go ahead of me to the store because you can get there faster and I will come behind you.”  Knowing that my legs are longer and that I could get there faster, she left it up to me to do what needed to be done while she followed close behind.

There are times in our lives in which following God can be difficult for a variety of reasons.  Not knowing exactly what He is doing makes following difficult.  Not knowing why He is asking us to do something makes following difficult.  Being unaware of the future of something makes following difficult.  

The list of times when following God is sometimes difficult can be endless.  During these times, we sometimes want to walk ahead of God and do things "our way".  However, we must recognize that God’s legs, heart, and love for us are longer and greater than what we could ever have.  Knowing this and that God knows exactly what He is doing and exactly where we are, we must have the courage to let Him walk ahead of us and do what needs to be done while we follow close behind.  

- timothy jackson