Plowing straight lines
At the end of Luke 9, Jesus offers 3 men the opportunity to follow Him, and all three said yes.
Kind of.
One seemed to have a problem with the less luxurious life he would experience by following.
Another wanted to stay close to home until his father was buried. (Quick history lesson: this didn’t mean his father was dead, only that he would follow after his father died and was buried, which could have been years later)
The third wanted to tell his family goodbye before going with Jesus.
Honestly, none of these seem off the charts bad as far as reasons go, and yet Jesus responds in a way that lets us know that He knew they weren’t reasons as much as excuses.
But Jesus told him, “Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62 NLT, emphasis mine)
There’s nothing wrong with wanting a place to sleep, or with loving your father, or with wanting to say goodbye to the people you love. But what Jesus was challenging was the affection of the heart because affection determines direction.
Affection determines direction. Share on XWe don’t use many farming analogies anymore, but Jesus told these men something that everyone knew in that day: you can’t plow straight lines looking backward, and if you’re thinking about what you left more than you’re thinking about Who you left it for, then you won’t be any good to the work God is calling you to.
In our world, it would be like trying to drive a car forward while constantly looking in the rearview mirror. Not impossible, but not very effective (or safe for anyone else on the road!).
The direction of our lives is driven by our affections, and if we want to plow straight lines, we have to be convinced that nothing in this world is as valuable as the King Who has called us to push our chips to the center of the table and follow Him wherever He goes.
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