Again, a line from an old movie, one that the born-again believer may be wise to adhere to, but that may be difficult to actually perform. “Be ready at any time to leave everything behind in five minutes or less.”
Friends, family, loved ones, house, home, everything, but the wise man would also put into effect, in those five minutes 1 John 4:1, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”
We have some difficulty imagining ourselves in this manner, it is why we sing and say, “Where He leads, I will follow,” the problem is, most of us want to hire a moving van to bring all of our stuff with us, or at least grab a suitcase or two, if we decide to follow Him.
“Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee.” (Gen. 12:1) I don’t recall the part where the Lord said, “Oh, and don’t forget to call Lot and a few others, and bring along this and that.” Here is the wisdom part, very few will be called in this way just for that reason I believe, they like their stuff, their neighbors, they are, in many cases, tied to the land, as it were, generations of their families may have been born, raised and buried there. It is why they will not prepare for a possible calling from the Lord, because they do not want to hear it. It is one thing to say, “For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.” (1 Chronicles 29:15) It is quite another to follow when we are led.
Here is another verse that we should contemplate in this area, “And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.” (Luke 4:24) It makes one wonder, was that the first and last time that the Lord went back to His hometown, as it were, perhaps for a visit, perhaps for reasons only He knew. So, this place where you reside, those areas that are well known to you, are you welcome because you are “one of them,” because it is your hometown, or were you cast out long ago as one who has no desire to be “part of the gang,” one whose topic of conversation is continuously of the mercies of the Lord, have you worn out your welcome, and if so, why do you stay?
There are some of you reading this that know you are not where you are supposed to be, yet you stay, others have the same feeling, or notion, but they do not know where the Lord would have them to be. Here is where much prayer and faith must begin to be employed, and perhaps that “five-minute warning” we spoke of earlier. “Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house.” (Matt. 24:17) Some people are not going to have a choice, the days of evil are upon us, and we may need to make that decision in a hurry, but that does not mean that we should not be preparing now.
One thing I have found that has made these thoughts somewhat easier, for we all struggle to one degree or another in this area, is to look at everything and everyone in your life today with less value than what you may currently have for them. There is only one way that I know how to do this, only one way that we can live prepared for this possible moment. “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” (Job 1:21) And that is to make the only thing in your life of any true and lasting value Jesus Christ. Not what He has given you in this world, whether it be materialistic items or friends, family and loved ones, nothing can hold a higher place in your heart, mind and soul than Him.
There is a peace in these thoughts, it drives away the anxiety, it gives clarity to eternity, it places faith on who it should be for all that we have and are, the Lord Jesus. The last thing that you will need to give up is you, and when you reach this point, if He so blesses you with the ability to do so, you will also be able to say, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Phil. 1:21) It should not take five minutes to figure that out.
