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Or have you chosen to drag
your feet when Jesus calls you to follow Him?
ETERNAL PERSPECTIVES by Sally Bair
Immediately
I can still hear my mother
calling me while I had my nose in a book—again—when I should have been taking
care of chores. “Get in this kitchen immediately!” she yelled. With her
extra-loud emphasis on the word immediately, I knew it was time to close the
book and get going.
Impetuous by nature, I can
identify with immediacy. The word speaks of automatic action. Although I like
to think my quick decisions will be good, at times they end up being foolish or
thoughtless.
The Gospel of Mark contains
the word immediate many times. Mark wrote more about Jesus’ miracles than His
teachings. The author comes across as a man of emotion and action, one who
wants his audience to respond with like emotion to the vivid descriptions of
Jesus and the people. His fast-paced account reminds me of a hard-to-put-down
thriller that leaves us breathless.
Indeed, Mark’s God-ordained purpose
was to entice us to walk—or run—in the footsteps of Jesus. His narrative,
written mainly for non-Jewish readers who faced persecution and martyrdom,
fulfills its purpose to cause us, too, to take action. If nothing else, it
shows us how God used sudden events to prove His deity and His desire to bring
us to saving faith in His Son, Jesus, our Savior and Lord.
Jesus’ magnetic personality
and miracles had people flocking to Him. Jesus said to a paralyzed man, “I say
to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house. Immediately he arose,
took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so all were amazed
and glorified God ….” (Mark 11-12)
When we hear commands that
include the word immediately, we may tend toward lightning-quick
obedience—let’s go, stop, or come here now! God would have us heed His biblical
warnings immediately, too. He does not want us to put off our eternal destiny
like the five virgins did in Jesus’ parable (see Matthew 25). He warns us to
“Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming … be ready,
for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” (Matthew 24:42, 44)
Lord, thank You for giving us warnings. Cause us to
immediately heed them with the expectation and promise of living with You now
and forever. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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