Come and Follow Me

     Once there was a man walking the streets of a city. All around him he saw the filth of sin. It was on the buildings, it spilled out into the streets. Its stench filled the air. As he walked he tried to avoid the puddles, but inevitably some splashed on him. As he continued on, his clothes became stained and torn, tattered rags.

     Then through the haze of sin a hand reached down. A voice said, "Come to Me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest." The man grabbed hold of the hand and was lifted out of the city, above the sin. He found himself somewhere between Heaven and Earth. Heaven's gates stood before him and the Earth and its sin behind him. Jesus stood before him and said, "Your sins are forgiven." Instantly his clothes were made white as snow, the filth of sin had been washed away. Then Jesus told him, "Come and follow me." The man started to stride boldly towards the gates of Heaven only to notice that Jesus was nowhere to be seen. Puzzled he looked around to see where the Savior had gone, to his surprise Jesus was headed back towards the filth of the world.

     Jesus calls us to win others to Him. To do that we must follow Him, not through the gates of Heaven but into the world.

You are the Man

     "You are the man." Words of praise these days, but David wasn't real happy when the prophet Nathan uttered them.

     The scene is David's throne room. David is still basking in the glow of his recent marriage to Bath-sheba. Nathan, David's friend and a prophet, enters with the following story.

     There were two men, one rich, the other poor. The rich man had many flocks and herds, while the poor man had one little lamb that was the family pet. One day some guests visit the rich man. Instead of taking from his own flocks, the rich man kills and prepares the poor man's lamb for his guests.

     When David heard this, he was filled with anger at the rich man. He told Nathan, "As the Lord lives, the man that has done this thing shall surely die." Nathan pointed at David and said, "You are the man!"

     David's wrath was snuffed out like a candle, for he knew that Nathan spoke the truth. By taking Bath-sheba from Uriah, he had been that rich man.

     There is one truly chilling aspect to David's punishment---the Lord through Nathan said, "What you did, you did in secret; but I will do this before all Israel, and before the sun." Is there a sin that you are convinced you have hidden from all of the world? Only three knew of David's sin. Uriah died for his knowledge, and David and Bath-sheba weren't going to talk. What we do in secret isn't hidden from God. If Nathan came to your house, would he point at you and say, "You are the man."?