Beware of postponing obedience

A few days ago I mentioned a man who runs a car ministry for missionaries. I plan to write at length (if you call 725 words "length") about it soon because it is dripping with the presence of the living God. But here is a Whitman's Sampler:

When this man went to Bible school, he had four other friends, all on fire for the Lord. They planned to make a lot of money and then use it for His kingdom.

The car guy, on the other hand, skipped the get-rich part and went straight to collecting vehicles, till his neighbors' collective eyebrows were raised and he had to pray for more land. The Lord just kept one step ahead of him, like Harold and the Purple Crayon, creating doors and windows in the ether, as his obedient servant needed them.

The other four guys all got rich. But they also got the tentacles of the world sunk into their hearts and never did get around to the dream they started with. Two committed suicide. The other two also shipwrecked their lives. The dilemma is addressed in Dietrich Bonhoeffer's commentary on Luke 9:57-62 from The Cost of Discipleship, in which men hear the call of Jesus and they say yes---but there is something they need to do first. Even something moral and ethical and upstanding:

"He wants to follow, but feels obliged to insist on his own terms. Discipleship to him is a possibility which can only be realized with certain conditions have been fulfilled. This is to reduce discipleship to the level of the human understanding. First you must do this and then you must do that. There is a right time for everything. The disciple places himself at the Master's disposal, but at the same time retains the right to dictate his own terms. But then discipleship is no longer discipleship, but a programme of our own. . . ."

The difference between following a Person and a Program is that one of them is untamed and unpredictable.

To hear commentaries by Andrée Seu, click here.