What Happens When You Put God on a Waiting List

A waiting list is an order of priority for a service or the attention of someone. Waiting lists exist on the premise that the service or individual that everyone is on queue for is so important but busy, and so can only take on so much per time.

It is like call waiting; whereby you are busy enjoying a telephone conversation, and then comes another call. If the incoming call is deemed to be of lower priority, you either decline or allow the new call to wait.

This is what we do to God sometimes. We put God on our little waiting lists.

But you may be thinking, this is ridiculous. How can you imagine God in a waiting list?

The battle of priorities

Jesus was having a chat with some aspiring disciples. One of the wanna-be disciples said to Jesus, Master, I would like to follow you, wherever you go.

Jesus said to him, "are you sure you are ready to rough it?" (Luke 9:58, MSG).

You may have the conviction that God is good and His love for you is everlasting. That conviction would be tested. There are things that would try to hold you back from responding to God's love.

Family, friends, career, and society can join forces to push God down the order of priority.

Let's face it. It's becoming tougher to embrace and hold on to faith in God. You may have to rough it a bit to overcome spiritual inertia and stay the course.

Ready, but first...

For two of the men who were speaking to Jesus on this occasion, there were other things that required their immediate attention.

Both were certain and ready to follow Jesus. But they also wanted to be excused for a while to take care of more urgent personal matters.

In contemporary times, those excuses would sound like these:

• I am ready to follow you, but first, excuse me to go live my life the way I want.

• I want to follow you, but please, excuse me to also conform to ungodly popular culture.

• I am ready to follow you, but first, excuse me to grow a bit older, or get married, or retire.

• I am ready to follow you, but first, excuse me, I need some time to bury my past.

• I am ready to follow you, but first, excuse me while I go and straighten myself up a bit.

In plain language, these men were saying to Jesus, “hey Master, you are on call waiting, a waiting list, and we will keep you there until we deal with these more critical personal stuffs.”

Aren't we all like them sometimes, allowing personal matters to get in the way of our convictions and relationship with God?

Last on the list?

Some believe God can wait until their dead bed. Some think the youthful part of their lives should be maxed out in godless existence.

They put God on the waiting list.

But Jesus said to one of the men:

"No procrastination. No backward looks. You can't put God's kingdom off till tomorrow. Seize the day." (Luke 9:62, MSG).

Jesus is saying that the business of the soul is urgent. We can draw some wisdom there:

• You don't need to have everything figured out.

• You don't need to go bury your past before following him.

• You don't need to get everything straightened out first.

If all those excuses are out of the way. You can seize the day without procrastinating or looking back.

The call

If you have been pondering whether to believe God or not, or whether to follow Jesus or not; here is your chance.

Swipe that green button and take Jesus off call waiting. Reorder your waiting list and prioritise the business of your soul.

Don't put it off till tomorrow; you can do it today.

Prayer: Lord, help me to drop all excuses and answer when you call.

Bible Reading: Luke 9:57-62 (MSG)

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Photo Credit: The Good News team