Can you relate to this? God tells you stuff He wants you to do first and foremost in the Bible and also at times when He speaks to your heart personally. But sometimes you just don’t want to do what you know good and well God has commanded you to do. So now what?
Can you relate to this? You don’t want to get uncomfortable. You don’t want to take a risk. You don’t want to get sweaty and dirty and have to make a sacrifice. You don’t want to get out of your comfort zone. Your calendar is already booked up. There is something else you would much rather do. You don’t want to go over there where God wants you to go because you’d rather be here where everything and everyone are familiar. You don’t want to continue in your job because your co-workers are mean to you but God wants you to stay in that job and love and forgive them and talk to them about Him.
You don’t want to make the changes He is telling you to make. You don’t want to go the extra mile. You don’t want to go any mile at all. You’re perfectly content doing what you want to do. So your heart is filled with this attitude. But God I don’t want to. I just don’t want to do what you’re telling me to do. And you go one big step further than this. You resist Him with a prideful, bad attitude and put off for maybe later doing what He has told you to do. Or you go all out and refuse to do it – ever.
Jesus tells a story in the Bible about a father and two sons. The father tells them what to do. One says he will do it but refuses to do it. The other son says he will not do it but changes his mind and direction and chooses to do it. Which one does Jesus honor in this story? The son who ends up doing what he was supposed to do in the first place even though he started in the wrong direction. The one God honors is the one who humbly does His will.
Friend, if you know in your heart God has told you to do something you have refused to do, or are resisting doing, or are contemplating not doing, please turn to God, humble yourself before Him, put your trust in Him, and do it. Obey God. For the glory of God. AMEN! It may be hard, challenging, uncomfortable, unfamiliar, new, different, unpopular, not on your wish list, on your I-would-never-do-this list, feel risky, be the last thing in the world any of your friends would ever do, interfere with your plans, take up the time you wanted to do something else, etc. No matter. Do it anyway. Do it for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, AMEN!
Fear God! Do what is right in the eyes of God almighty! Obey Him!
“”But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go, work today in my vineyard.’ He answered and said, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he regretted it [KJV version says “repented”. We should regret our rebellion and disobedience and turn back to God and obey Him. Yes, we should repent!] and went. Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, ‘I go, sir,’ but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said to Him, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but tax collectors and harlots believed him; and when you saw it, you did not afterward relent [this comes from the same Greek word as “regretted” above i.e. the word translated as “regret” and “repent” in various versions]and believe him.” Matthew 21:28-32 NKJV