And he returned from following him and took the yoke of oxen and sacrificed them and boiled their flesh with the yokes of the oxen and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and went after Elijah and assisted him. 1 Kings 19:21 – After a short sabbatical with the Lord, Elijah is stepping back into action as God’s prophet to Israel, and his first action back was to anoint Elisha as his successor. Elisha was working the field with 12 yoke of oxen when Elijah came to him and placed his prophet’s cloak on him, a sign in their day that Elisha was being called by the Lord to the prophet’s work. What was Elisha’s response? He went back home, sacrificed the 24 oxen he had been working with, gave it to the people there, and went to follow Elijah in the Lord’s work. While not focused on in the passage, to have at least 24 oxen to work with in the field meant Elisha was quite wealthy, but he was willing to give it all away to serve the Lord. Unlike the rich, young ruler in Matthew 19, who was also wealthy but refused to give up his wealth to follow Jesus. Let passages like this remind us to not box people into categories of “they would never follow Jesus.” Wealthy people will follow Jesus, and so will poor people. People who currently follow other gods, people who are addicted to drugs, people who are living sinful lifestyles all can walk from those paths to pursue Jesus, and many do. Just because someone carries the label of wealthy, or Muslim, or prostitute, or junkie, or famous, don’t mark them off as pointless to share the Gospel to. The Gospel has changed the hearts of people in every people group and type on the planet, don’t then be the reason why a person doesn’t hear the Gospel because you assumed they wouldn’t listen. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 3063
Question To Ponder: What may be a people group you find yourself assuming wouldn’t respond to the Gospel well?
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