Today was the last day of school bus responsibilities for the 2020-21 school year – cleaned my bus and had my annual physical. Thank You Father for watching over us this year with all the craziness that went on.
John 6:66-71 (<<click here to read the passage)
A question for you. How many pills can you swallow in one sitting? Do you swallow one or maybe a few at a time? Or can you swallow a whole handful with no issues?
A few years back, one of the dear saints of my church (she has since gone on to her eternal reward) and I were talking, and this subject came up. She, like me, could swallow a whole handful of pills with no issues whatsoever. Someone else I know can only take a few at a time. I guess I must have a pretty size gullet (esophagus) to be able to swallow big and small pills alike.
Another thing I do is to take a swallow of water or juice before I put my pills in my mouth. I despise the taste of some of them and capsules have a bad tendency to stick in the back of my throat – yuck!
I’ve talked about this before, but it bears repeating. Following Jesus is most definitely not a walk in the park. It seems as I have gone through the Gospels, that this has become more clearly evident. There are days when I have struggled to write because what Jesus has said is not an easy pill to swallow. It is difficult to take no matter how I approach it.
The thing about following Jesus is that to truly follow Him, sacrifice and determined commitment have to be involved. We cannot just go with the flow of the world around us and expect to delve deep into His mind and heart. The world is all about “me”. It is very rarely about anybody else. Wholeheartedly following Jesus is not about “me” but first off, it’s about Him, and then it’s about others.
Remember Jesus’ statement regarding the greatest commandment of all?
“The first and most important one is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul (life), and with all your mind (thought, understanding), and with all your strength.’ This is the second: ‘You shall [unselfishly] love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:29-31 AMP
Lord Jesus, it may not be an easy pill to swallow, but You have promised to be with us and will never forsake us in our journey with You. Any sacrifice we make is nothing compared to the sacrifice You made to assure our salvation. Instill in us a determined commitment to follow You will our heart, soul, mind, and strength and then to unselfishly love others as ourselves. Amen.
June 8th, 2021, Tues, 8:04 pm
