Come...

...COME...

(Mat 11:28-30 ASV)  Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. {29} Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. {30} For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

(John 1:37-39 NIV)  When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. {38}  Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "What do you want?" They said, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?" {39}  "Come," he replied, "and you will see." So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour.

(Mark 1:16-18 ASV)  And passing along by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net in the sea; for they were fishers. {17} And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. {18} And straightway they left the nets, and followed him.

“Come unto me...”, “Come,... and you will see.”,  “Come ye after me...”. 

            The invitation, the call, the command.  Come.  Think about this, ponder what it means.  A simple word, defined in Strong’s as:

“1205. deute, dyoo'-teh; from G1204 and an imper. form of  eimi (to go); come hither!:--come, X follow.”  Co 1205. deute, dyoo'-teh; from G1204 and an imper. form of  eimi (to go); come hither!:--come, X follow. me, follow, see, come.”

            Jesus is calling, calling for a life abandoned to all but Him.  Come unto me, He calls...  Lord Jesus, search me now!  I hear Your invitation, Your call!  Search me , O God, and find those parts of me that don’t fit, those parts in my life, in the secret places that I haven’t given to you.  Coming to You, Lord, isn’t a checkers game, where I play only on the black squares, and keep you out of the red; it means it’s a chess game, where I am vulnerable, with all squares are open to You.  Father of Lights, if I’m holding back anything, reveal it!  Take it!  I awoke this morning, full of myself and the satisfaction I had that I “was there.”  I called out to You, “Lord, give me a word today!”  You said “Look...” and what did I find?   “Come unto me...”.   What? I said.  But I already have, I thought.  You said, “Look again.”  What did I find?   “Come,... and you will see.”  See what Lord? You said, “Look again.”  But, I don’t want to look again Lord, I’m afraid...

            But I looked, and You said, “Come ye after me...”.  Now, I’m on my knees, crying out to the One who sits on the Throne.  Where have I missed it Lord? I cry.  “Come,... and you will see.”  Revelation.  Yes, open my eyes Lord, spit into the dust of the earth, and smear the paste on these blind eyes so that I might wash off in the pool and see!  Don’t let me view men walking around as trees, but restore my sight!  Now, what do I see?

            “Come unto me...”.  Total surrender, complete submission.  If I want Your yoke, Your rest, I must abandon myself, I must become a shell.  A shell that only You can fill then.  And when You’ve taken over, ALL things will become new.  Only in complete surrender will I have the whole invitation.  When I am come unto You, with no part of me holding back, then can others see You, and hear You say   “Come unto me”.

           

“Come,... and you will see.”  The call.  Come, and know You.  Let the scales drop from my eyes, and behold the face of the One that loves me.  Unstop my ears so that I may hear the siren call of heaven, the voice that thunders from the sea of glass.  Behold where You abide Lord; the earth is Your throne, and Your enemies are Your foot rest.  You are all around, ever searching for the heart ready to yield to Your call, the heart yearning for rest and freedom.  Where You abide is where I want to be.  No more Lord, no more do I want to be on my own, with those little secret closets where I hide the “junk”, for the clutter is causing me to stumble.  I flail around as if blind, for I didn’t heed the call...  Now, I see.  Pride, self-sufficiency, self-interest:  what place do these things have in the kingdom of heaven?  Lay them down!  Put them to death!  O heed the words of the Lord, written by the psalmist:

(Psa 23 KJV)  A Psalm of David. The LORD is  my shepherd; I shall not want. {2} He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. {3} He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. {4} Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art  with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. {5} Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. {6} Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want...  What need I of pride?  Why do I need to be self-sufficient?  What does self-interest gain me?  I shall not want.  My eyes are open; the spiritual blinders have been removed.  I see that Jesus is sufficient for all things, that His grace and mercy abound.  He provides for me, comforts me, teaches me, laughs with me, cries with me.  In Him is completeness found;  there is no longer any need to hide things away, no need to store up wrath. “Come,... and you will see.”  The light of day has replaced the darkness, I stumble no more.

            “Come ye after me...”.  The command to follow.  Now is where it all comes together.  I’ve been invited; my eyes are open.  Now I’m told to pay the cost.  And what a price!  Nothing short of my life will suffice!  O, but Lord, what about..?  “Come ye after me...”.  There are these things...  “Come ye after me...”.  But... “Come ye after me...”. 

All the excuses drop away, all pretense ends.  Follow, or don’t;  what other choice is there?  If I look back, what will happen?  A pillar of salt?  If I follow, if I go ahead, what will happen?  I stand at a pinnacle, my head swoons; I feel as if I’m on the razor’s edge.  What do I do?  He’s walking away... I drop my net, all those things that I’ve held onto for safety, all the comforts, all the secrets, all I am; I drop my net and follow.  I can’t let Him go, I can’t let Him walk away.  The cost of ignoring Him is too high;  either way it’ll cost me my life.  Either way I must die, one way to bury self and then gain, the other way to keep my life and die.  The cost of living is too much.  To stand here on this beach and watch Him walk away is more than I can bear.  I run, striving to catch up, before He gets away.  In my haste I stumble, but I don’t hit the ground...  I look and see two nail scarred hands holding me, two loving, strong, capable arms encircling me, pulling me upright.  Tears run down my cheeks as those arms draw me near to His breast, the rhythm of His heart sounding in my ear.  “Come.”  I’m no longer afraid, for I now know.  The invitation, the call, the command.  It echoes throughout my soul, waking me from my slumber, leading me into the streets, calling out to all that’ll hear, “Come.”  It’s His voice that speaks, not mine.  He reproduces His invitation by the life He has given me; every day I must surrender to His will, and answer the call, follow the command to drop my nets and come.  To say I can’t is to pervert the very nature that He has planted within me; to seek my net and a hiding place is to reject His invitation.  All that is needed to fight this urge is to remember the beach, and those hands that held, that heart that beat, that voice that simply said

“Come.”