God Wants What is Best for Us
Saying goodbye is hard—to family and friends, to a favorite and familiar place, to an occupation or livelihood.
In Luke 9:57-62 our Lord describes the cost of being His disciple. A would-be follower says to Jesus, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” Jesus responds, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God” (vv. 61-62).
Is He asking His followers to say goodbye to everything and every relationship considered precious? In the Chinese language there is no direct equivalent of the English word goodbye. The two Chinese characters used to translate this word really mean “see you again.” Even the phrase “goodbye” come from combining four English words, “God be with ye.”
Becoming a disciple of Christ means we will be called into God’s service, sometimes somewhere else. Yet, it does not mean we say goodbye to people in the sense that we are to forget all our past relationships. Saying goodbye means that God wants us to follow Him on His terms—wholeheartedly. Then we will see people again from the right perspective God wants the best for us, but we must allow Him to take priority over everything else.
When one senses God is calling you to something, you must stop and listen. Sometimes it is events forming around you that tell you that God has a plan for you. Sometimes God gets your attention through “happenstance.” But if you remember the story of Ruth, happenstance is often not perchance or coincidence. Even in happenstance, God is at work in the background, behind the curtain of events.
So while saying goodbye is hard, we do it knowing that God will be with us ‘til we meet again. May the Lord bless you and keep you, may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up his face upon you and give you peace. Amen.
~Pastor Kent