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.”
Then He said to another, “Follow Me.”
But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”
Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.”
And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.”
But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:57-62
Procrastination can have many faces in people’s lives. In the above scriptures, some claimed that they wanted to follow Jesus, but they had excuses as to why it wasn’t the right time. They supposedly were going to wait and do it at the right time. In reality, they just didn’t want to pay the price. They were not ready to fully commit to Jesus.
The man who wanted to bury his father may not have even lost his father yet. His thought could have been that when his father died, then it was the right time to venture out into following Jesus. This wasn’t about being a responsible and loving son, but it was about him feeling that following Jesus can wait. He was going to procrastinate for several years until a supposedly right time. In the above passage, the other one wanted to say goodbye to his family. Most likely, he wanted to get their input and ensure that they were ok with his decision to follow Jesus. They both had other priorities that seemed more pressing to them than following Jesus right away. They had no urgency for following the Lord.
On the other hand, Jesus likened the kingdom of God to a farmer who is plowing the field. The farmer cannot make any progress in doing his work if he keeps looking back. His focus has to be right in front of him and continue to plow the field.
We see some people who have been raised in the church, walk away from Christ. They feel that there are more important things that they want to do in life than following Jesus first. Jesus is not a priority to them. They don’t think they are necessarily rebelling against Christ. They just think that at some point in time, they will have more time to follow Him.
When we have a revelation of Jesus calling us to Himself, there is nothing more important than choosing to follow Him. We cannot afford to procrastinate. There is no need to wait. He is not a hindrance to our dreams or visions. He is our way maker. When we put him first without procrastinating, He establishes order and clarity in our lives. He changes our hearts about worldly dreams and puts new dreams in our hearts that we never deemed important before.
Have you fully committed to following Jesus? Are there other things in your life that seem more important than following Jesus? Are you timely in obeying Jesus? Or do you procrastinate in following Him? Delayed/procrastinated obedience is disobedience, and it can be costly in our lives as well as those around us.
