And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him. – Mark 2:14, KJV

I am simultaneously amazed and ashamed each time I read a passage like Mark 2:14. Whether it’s Levi leaving his cushy job to follow Jesus, Abraham leaving his country at the direction of God, or Noah building an ark in anticipation of something called “rain,” which he had never seen before, I find the ability to obey God without hesitation a wonderful, admirable quality – a quality I sorely lack.

I’m more like Moses and Peter. I make excuses on the front end of doing God’s will, and I’m prone to bail out of God’s will when things get tough. Too consumed with my own ideas of how life should be, I make it difficult for God to show me how wonderful His ideas about life actually are. Thankfully, though, I serve the same God that Moses and Peter served, which means that if He wouldn’t give up on them, He won’t give up on me.

If you are like me – slack to obey and slow to move when you do – take heart. God loves you just as much as He did Moses and Peter. But, both you and I would suffer a lot less anxiety and chastisement if we’d be a little more like Matthew (Levi), Noah, and Abraham, i.e., quick to obey. So my challenge to both of us is this: the next time God asks us to follow Him, let’s just get up and go, shall we?