Prioritizing God

“As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. ‘Follow me,’ he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.” Matthew 9:9 NIV

When God calls, we are often busy in our lives. In this verse, when Jesus called, Matthew was doing his job as a tax collector. Another example of this is of when Jesus called Simon and Andrew. The two brothers were in the middle of doing their job as fishermen (Matthew 4:18-20).
      Notice that when Jesus called, these men left what they were doing and followed Him.
      When God calls us, we often make excuses. God I can’t, I’m too busy. I have [insert obligation here]. I don’t have time. I just can’t commit.
      We put God and His plan for us on the back burner. Devos, prayer, worship, ministry in and out of the church; all these things suffer when we are busy.
      Don’t get me wrong, I am not trying to minimize your responsibilities. Believe me, I understand being busy. I am a full time grad student (taking 3 classes) and a leader in youth ministry. I have a social life too. I know how difficult it is to “make time.” The problem is, we are looking at this issue the wrong way.
      We are all given the same amount of time. We can’t make more time. This phrase is just the excuse we use to feel better about neglecting our role as disciples. I have seen mothers, wives, and women with full time jobs (even all 3 and more) be faithful in their devotion to God and the ministry He has called them to. They are just as tired and busy as others (in fact, more so than a good number of others who claim not to have time). But, they know how to prioritize God and balance the roles He is giving them.
      When God calls you it is because He has a plan for you. He will use the area He is leading you to grow and prepare you for something bigger He has in store. Often, however, people never get to find out what that is because they spend so much time making excuses. They never leave their version of the tax booth (their responsibility).
      I'm not saying we should abandon our responsibilities, but when God calls us we often ignore Him because we find the thought of disappointing people more difficult for us to handle than disappointing God. We give up our spiritual role for our worldly role. Thus, we miss out on God’s big plan for us.
      Jesus didn’t need Matthew. He could have raised up another disciple to take His place. God doesn’t need us. If we are going to ignore His call to follow Him, then He will find someone else to do the job.
      Can you imagine all that Matthew (and Simon and Andrew) would have missed if he had told Jesus, “I can’t right now. I am in the middle of work. It’s just an inconvenient time”?
      Yeah, a lot.
      Now imagine how much you are missing out on.
      It’s a lot easier for us to see how dumb it would have been for Matthew to make excuses to Jesus because we can see just some of what His ministry was like in the Bible (and thus, what Matthew would have missed).
      Don’t get caught regretting not following God’s call. Not knowing what God has planned is not a valid excuse; the issue here is obedience. The Bible shows some of the things God will do in and through us if we follow Him. Even when we can’t see it though, we should know God well enough to know that He has something amazing in store. There is never an excuse to not trust what God is doing or has planned (or His timing!).
      You don’t want to be stuck standing in front of God someday ashamed at what you missed out on when He tells you what He had planned for you. Go after it while you can. Don’t wait for a better time; there is no such thing. The best time is as soon as God calls.