Removing All Barriers

There was an old plow on the platform Sunday when my Pastor Dave began to teach. He was continuing his lessons of Elijah and he came to the passage where Elijah went to Elisha, who was to succeed him as prophet ... and as soon as Elisha saw him, he abandoned everything ... in fact, he got rid of his plow by burning it ... and followed Elijah. The plow represented Elisha, his livelihood and undoubtedly, his earthly passion. As Pastor Dave pointed out, when the call came, Elisha was ready to drop everything and go. He recognized the need to remove all barriers to obedience to God's call.

My first thought when I listened to this was how Elisha didn't tell Elijah he would need some time to think about it ... or pray about it. He was prepared, Pastor Dave said. This man had evidently made a commitment to God that he would do whatever ... whatever God wanted him to do ... no matter what. Prayer is critical; it is necessary to who we are in Christ because it is our communication with our Father. There comes a point though in our walk with Christ when we know ... (if our relationship is right with Him) ... we often know instantly what He wants us to do. If Elijah was a prophet of God who walked uprightly and was obedient in the eyes of God, and Elisha was a man who had committed himself to loving and serving God with everything in him ... wouldn't it have been strange for Elisha to say to Elijah, "Give me a few days to pray about this matter?"

I wrote recently about a commitment I made approximately 13-14 years ago. It had been a number of years since I'd committed to God that I would do "whatever" ... whatever He wanted from me I would do, and now, I found myself hearing the question, "What are you doing in My name?" all day, every day, for several months. I couldn't shake it and finally all I could do was to say, Ok. I don't know what I am doing in Your name, but until I know for sure I'm doing what You want me to do ... I will not take on another project, another hobby ... nothing ... I won't add another thing to my list until I know what I am doing is honoring You. That is when things got a lot worse in my life. It was only days until I received an invitation in the mail for something I'd not heard of before ... a scrapbooking party. It wasn't a candle party or a home fashion party which would have been so easy to say "no" to ... this was actually something that sounded nice ... and useful. It was a way to free up albums and boxes of photos taking up space and a way to display photos much more simply. It was really a good idea ... and I wanted to go ... and then my words of commitment to God came to mind immediately. I called my friend and told her how sorry I was I couldn't come; I even told her why I couldn't.

Elisha's plowing was a good thing. He wasn't doing anything wrong by working the fields. And scrapbooking was a good thing. It was a way to declutter and simplify ... something I'd been working on in my life. As I think back to that moment when I had to say no to a good friend, and many more invitations that followed, I wonder how Elisha's family and friends responded when he told them what he was doing. I wonder about the other people who plowed ... did they think Elisha had somehow become more spiritual than them or that he thought he was holier than thou because he was abandoning the very thing they were still doing? Elisha could not have believed everyone should burn their plows and follow Elijah as he was doing ... and I didn't think everyone else should say no to scrapbooking or anything else they enjoyed doing. I have no doubt there were people who thought Elisha was being extreme in his actions and even ridiculed him for it ... because I've learned firsthand what happens when you make a sincere promise or commitment to God ... and you follow through.

What I know for sure today is that removing all barriers in order to be obedient to God's will for my life has cost me dearly. It has and will continue to cost me friendships as I grow spiritually because I'm no longer the people-pleaser I was before. What I also know for sure is that sometimes saying, I'll pray about it, is often an excuse to delay obedience because as in the case of Elisha, there are some things God has already prepared us to do ... because we've allowed Him to prepare us ... and when the moment comes ... when the invitation comes in the mail or the call comes on the phone ... we already know the answer. We won't all be called to burn our plows or to say no to scrapbooking ... but everyone who is obedient to God will be called to remove whatever barrier it is that keeps us from being who and all God calls us to be. Removing all barriers to obedience to God's will is costly ... it is even offensive to other people ... but oh, so rewarding afterwards!

"...any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be My disciple." (Lk. 14)