Sorting the Instruction 6

  • “Follow Me.” (Matthew 9:9)
  • “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” (Matthew 8:22)
  • “You still lack one thing: sell all that you have and distribute it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.” (Luke 18:22)
  • “If I want him to remain until I come,” Jesus answered, “what is that to you? As for you, follow Me.” (John 21:22)
  • “You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I tell you, don’t resist an evildoer. On the contrary, if anyone slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. As for the one who wants to sue you and take away your shirt, let him have your coat as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to the one who asks you, and don’t turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. (Matthew 5:38-42)

Some of those commandments by Jesus to various people in the Scriptures you probably feel led to receive as though they were spoken to you. Some of them, you probably think He didn’t have you in mind when He said them. How do you decide?

If He said something to a Pharisee, would it not apply to you? He prophesied much woe to many of them. Yet, it was Nicodemus to whom He declared, “You can’t see the Kingdom unless you have been born again.” Even in this revelation, that once I have been born of God I am capable of seeing His Kingdom, there is no promise that I will see it. I have to want to see the hand of God in the earth if I am going to see it. Many people see His hand at work in miracles but cannot discern that it is Him, and therefore explain the mysteries away as natural things that we have not yet understood.

There is an old joke about using the Bible like the toy called a “magic 8 ball,” which is a black ball with a little window in it. To use it, you shake it while you are asking it a question, and when you hold it still with the window at the top, one of the multifaceted blocks in it floats up to the window with your “answer.” A man was seeking a word from the Lord and decided to open his Bible and take whatever he first pointed to as the answer. The first Scripture he pointed out was, “Judas hung himself.” The next one was, “Go thou, and do likewise.”

Study the Scriptures. Memorize them. Meditate on them. Discuss them with others. Pray for understanding and deeper revelation. Don’t shake them for a word without asking the Holy Spirit to direct you through them. Don’t be yoked by others’ rule books that they have written from them.

This He said to some Jews, who had the Scriptures memorized: “But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. (John 5:38-40, NKJV)