Love and Loyalty
Luke 9:57- 58
Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.” 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.”
What is the price of loyalty? To say to our Savior that you will follow Him wherever He goes is to say that you have no ties to this world. It is to say that you are in a pilgrimage. To follow Jesus is to have a temporary view of earthly life and to realize that you have a permanent home in an eternal place called Heaven. This place is not make believe or something we just conger up in our imagination. It is the place prepared for all who follow Jesus. It is the very dwelling and presence of God. Heaven has a consistence and existence so real that it is more real than we could ever imagine. We are literally following Jesus to this place when we say that we will follow Him where ever He goes. Heaven is our ultimate destination! It is the ultimate destination not for selfish reasons like seeing loved ones, the perfection of paradise or even the streets of gold, pearly gates or crystal sea that are so vividly talked about. Although these things are all true and will be a great benefit to being in Heaven. It is the ultimate destination because of the one we follow, "JESUS!" How can we presume to love Jesus in Heaven if do not love Him here on Earth? And how can we say we love Him on earth unless we are willing to follow Him on a pilgrimage to Heaven? That is to live life as if Jesus is our ultimate goal. To become like Him, to love what He loves and to be heart broken over the same things that break His heart. To be totally selfless and love the person in front of you no matter who that person is. To be a risk taker and invest in people no matter if they hurt you. To be a God pleaser not worrying about the opinion or attitude of those around us as to weather they approve of our obedience to God or not. To be faith walker knowing that we are in the hands of a loving Heavenly Father. To be a gospel preacher so that others may know the good news of the cross. To be a prayer warrior so that you make your request known to God. To be a church goer so you may honor Him in worship and fellowship. To always place God at the top of the list so that no one or nothing is more important than Him. To be a disciple maker so that others may become the same. Our ultimate goal is Jesus. The riches of this goal are endless, their depth and width are beyond compare. His resources are endless, His love is enormous, His power is limitless and His call is without a doubt suited to all of these things. We can not follow Jesus unless we have a God sized heart for our future home. Let's do it church! Let's follow Jesus like this! Why should we keep a foot in this world while we know that this world has nothing to offer us. Let the foxes and the birds have it. We have much greater and bigger things to do than build earthly homes. We have a heavenly one!
