Luke 9:59-60 And he said to another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.… There are many of you who are busily engaged in legitimate occupations, and devoting yourselves in various degrees to various forms of good, touching the secular condition of the people around us. May I hint to you, "Let the dead bury their dead; preach thou the gospel"? A Christian man's first business is to witness for Jesus Christ. And no amount of diligence in legitimate occupations or for the good of others will absolve him from the charge of having turned duties upside down if he says, "I cannot witness for Jesus Christ. I am so busy about these other things." This command has a special application to us ministers. There are hosts of admirable things that we are tempted to engage in now-a-days, with the enlarged opportunities that we have of influencing men. socially, politically, intellectually, and it wants rigid cocentration for us to keep out of the paths which might hinder our usefulness, or, at all events, dissipate our strength. Let us hear that voice ringing always in our ears: "preach thou the gospel of the kingdom." (A. Maclaren, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.WEB: He said to another, "Follow me!" But he said, "Lord, allow me first to go and bury my father." |
    |