Christian Devotional – August 4, 2019

Commitment. Elijah obeyed God and went and chose Elisha to follow him. Elisha’s response? Total commitment. Read 1 Kings 19:19-21.

So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, while he was plowing with twelve pairs of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth. And Elijah passed over to him and threw his mantle on him. He left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, “Please let me kiss my father and my mother, then I will follow you.” And he said to him, “Go back again, for what have I done to you?” So he returned from following him, and took the pair of oxen and sacrificed them and boiled their flesh with the implements of the oxen, and gave it to the people and they ate. Then he arose and followed Elijah and ministered to him.
1 Kings 19:19‭-‬21 NASB
https://bible.com/bible/100/1ki.19.19-21.NASB

Elisha didn’t waver and didn’t question what Elijah had shared with him. He did make one request to be able to go back and to kiss his mother and father, but after that he took the oxen that he had been using to do farm work and sacrificed them as an offering to God. He could not return back to his prior work for he was sold out to all that God had for him.

When we are faced with the decision to follow God or not to follow God, how do we respond? Do we decide to just try things out? Or, are we so committed to doing whatever God has told us to do that we make it so that we can’t possibly turn around again. Elisha couldn’t return to his old way of life. He was committed. How committed are we to what God has for us to day?