"Me First"

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"And another of His disciples said unto Him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead." Matthew 8:21-22.

I was in a position awhile back in which I was forced to hear some men telling a joke which to me was very sad. I share this joke with you only to make a point which I believe to be a very serious condition men and women are in not only today, but have been since the beginning of mankind. In the joke the question was asked, "What is the last thing that a red-neck says just before he dies?" And the answer to this question was, "Hey ya'll, watch this!". And then the question was asked, "What is the last thing that a yankee says just before he dies?". The answer to this was, "oops!".

These men really got a big laugh out of this joke, but I could not bring myself to laugh at it. As sad as this joke was to me, I chose not to try and witness to these men at that time because of the crowd that we were in. The Lord has allowed me the opportunity to witness to these men since that time, with negative results however. I believe with all my heart that anyone who could tell such a thing seeking a laugh and anyone who could see such a thing as funny are both lost and I would have loved to have been able to lead these men to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. I wasn't able to do so however, but the Lord has used this and other experiences to give me this little article and it is my most earnest prayer that He will use it, first of all for His great glory and then to be a very real and lasting blessing to the hearts and lives of many.

Some time ago, I was afforded the opportunity to witness to a group of people in the Intensive Care Waiting Room at a nearby hospital. In this witnessing, the Lord allowed me to witness to a precious lady whose husband was in the Intensive Care Unit in a coma. I asked this dear lady that if she were to die was she absolutely sure she would go to heaven? Her answer to this most important question was, "No". I then asked her if she knew where she would go and she said, "To the Boogie Man". Then I presented the Gospel of Christ to this dear lady to the very best of my ability and asked her if she believed what I had just told her. She said that she did believe what I had told her. Then I asked her if she would receive Jesus Christ as her personal Saviour. My heart melted as her response came in the form of just one word, "No".

I realize that from these two instances one may glean the thought that this article is all about my failure in witnessing. Indeed, these two instances ended in failure and I truly could go on and on giving you like instances. But let me make it clear that this article is not all about my failures in witnessing. I don't know how many precious souls the Lord has allowed me to lead to Him, but it has been more than a few and it is He alone who is in charge of who all will receive Him. I would and could witness to everyone I see, but I always try to seek His leadership as to who He will have me to witness to. Then there are those who would from these last two statements say that it's the Lord who is failing when I witness to someone and they don't receive Him. That too my friend is so untrue. The Lord never fails.

Why then, would these people and the many others I mentioned reject so great Salvation? And why would the Lord lead me to witness to those who would not receive Him? And what has all this to do with the title of this little article and the opening verse of scripture? And what is the problem that I spoke of at the beginning of this article? These are all good questions and I hope that the answer will be very clear shortly.

I believe that the Lord has allowed me to witness to many who reject Him that I might see why it is that so many will die and go to hell despite the fact that His Salvation is offered to all. The answer to that is found in the title of this little article and also in the opening verse of scripture. It's, "Me First". Once when I was praying about someone who I was having no success in helping, the Lord led me to this verse of scripture and He allowed me to see it as I had never seen it before. In that scripture, you will notice that the disciple mentioned was making a request of the Lord which truly seemed a reasonable request. He requested to go and bury his father. Indeed a reasonable request. It was the "Me First" that made it unreasonable.

Many men and women will die and go to hell despite the fact that God has so graciously made provision for them to spend eternity with Him in heaven. God's Word speaks expressly of a broad way and a narrow way and He has given me an article concerning these two ways. But this broad way is the one many men and women will take that leads to the path of destruction. Why is this? It's because many and even most want "Me First". People are so afraid that they will have to give up something in order to be saved that they are willing to risk spending eternity in hell to hang on to whatever it is they so cherish.

There is one thing that every creature that God created fears. That one thing is fire. You take the meanest lion in the jungle and ignite a flame thrower before him and he will nearly have a heart attack trying to escape that fire. But men and women will risk eternal torment in this lake of fire for the pleasure they feel they must have right now.

This "Me First" attitude is not limited to the lost people of the world. You will notice that in the opening verse of scripture, the one making this request of the Lord is one of the disciples. This was a follower of Christ. Many men and women claiming the name of Christ today have this same "Me First" attitude. How many men and women who say that they are followers of Christ will wake up on Sunday morning and decide that instead of going to the house of God, they will just go to the lake or the mountains instead? Or how many men of those same men and women will wake up on Sunday morning and decide that they will just stay home and watch something they feel to be important to them on television instead of worshipping the one whose name they claim? Or how many will sit at work or in the marketplace with someone they know to be lost and on their way to hell and talk with them about fishing or golf or the weather or any other subject under the sun and never tell that person that they don't have to go to hell, because Jesus loves them and that He died for them?

All these are sad testimonies of the "Me First" attitude that church members display every day. But all of these would be fairly easy for people to change, should they decide to put on a better show and/or to feel better about themselves. What if you woke up this Sunday morning and your spouse came to you and said, "I think we are wasting our time and our money following and worshipping the Lord, so we're not going to church anymore."? What would your response be to this? Would you be willing to forsake that spouse and go on to church anyway? That's a tough question, but one that within our hearts must be dealt with.

Whether you are a lost person or one who has trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour, everything that you are blessed with is of and from the Lord, but it is Satan who tempts us all with those blessings to forsake the Lord to enjoy those blessings. God doesn't ask us to forsake these blessings most of the time, but He does command and expect us to be willing to forsake them all. Some may say that the Lord should not expect so much from us, but what if He had taken that attitude when He came down to this earth to lay down His life for our sins? What good would all those blessings be to us then?

I heard a little children's song once. I can't remember all the words to this little song, but it says, "What if the mountains could become valleys, would they? What if a volcano could become a hiccup, would it? And what if the ocean could become a teardrop, would it?" My friend, that's what God did for me and that's what He did for you too. God Himself became a man and hung upon a cross and shed every drop of His precious blood and gave up His life to pay your sin debt and mine. He wasn't just willing to do all that. He did it.