God Speaking

“Come, follow me,” said Jesus, “and I will make you fishers of men.”

(Matthew 4:19)

All of us who have had toddlers, or who still have them around, know that it seems they instinctively grasp very quickly the word, “No” and use it in every possible situation, whether it be/ time for a nap/ put away the toys now/eat your vegetables/etc. It fascinates me that every generation is the same and our little grandson is no exception and practises it with dramatic gestures and grimaces to make sure we all get the message.

As we become adults we still sometimes would like to revert to being toddlers and express our feelings, but we learn to conceal these childish outbursts and learn to smile when confronted with pointed questions and add a word like “No thank you” I was thinking about how many times we often say no, even if it is not spoken, our body language conveying it all too well. Somebody comes into our lives needing our friendship, it is easy to convey no without saying it in so many words, but the saddest, “No thank you,” is when we use it in our relationship with our Lord.

I saw an interesting phrase in one of the devotionals I read online, and I have been pondering about it ever since. It was a list of aims for this New Year to increase our intimacy with the Lord and one of the suggestions was this;

Say yes to God’s gifts.

Gifts have been on all our minds during the Christmas season, many of them beautifully wrapped in festive paper, but how useless it would be for us to admire the wrapping and not open the gift and yet this devotional was pointing out that sometimes that is exactly what we do to the beautiful offerings of our Heavenly Father.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)

How foolish of us to refuse this gift and reply, “No thank you, I will just keep going until I burn out and am no use to anyone.”

Or another incredible gift offered to us is often ignored as we mistakenly believe we are strong enough to do it alone. How often have we struggled with some immense problem totally unaware of the beautiful presence beside us, waiting to be taken into to our confidence, waiting to hold us up, waiting to be our defender and hampered by our refusal to just say, “Yes please I need you.”

“.. because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)

The best example for us in Scripture is when Jesus simply asked the disciples, “come follow me”, they did not answer. No. That will upset all the plans we have for our lives, they simply said Yes to the beautiful gift of salvation Jesus was offering them.

I have decided to start my mornings by thinking of all the beautiful gifts God offers us everyday and to strive to remember to say a resounding Yes thank you and bathe in the warmth of his love all day.