DON'T LOOK BACK

Here's the scene. Jesus has just asked a group of people to commit to following him. Two men show interest but both say they have matters to attend to first. One leaves to bury his father and the other asks Jesus if he can go say goodbye to his family. Listen to what Jesus has to say to these two mean as they walk away.

"Jesus replied, 'No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.'" - Luke 9:62

The very next words from Jesus recorded in Luke further elaborate at what he's getting at. "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest field." - Luke 10:2

Part of me can really relate to the practical thinking of the two men who left to tend to family matters before following Christ, but on the other hand, what can be more important that joining with up with the God of the universe and his plan to show love to the world. Many times, I think we respond to Jesus' invitation to join in what he is doing in the very same way that these two men did. "Jesus I want to spend time with you," we say, "but let me just send this email first." Before we know it, one email leads to something else and then our day is over without giving a thought to God or what he might have had in store for us along the way. Or we tell God we are going to start praying more or sharing about him more with others but we get so consumed by our busy lives that nothing happens. We make excuses, procrastinate and treat our spiritual life-line to God like a school project on the bottom of our to-do list. We let everything else crowd out our time and service to God so that he is left with next to nothing and before we know it we are dying spiritually instead of growing.

There will always be emails to send and we will always be busy. There will never be a good or convenient time to follow God, so the question then is not what must I do to free myself up for following him, but whether or not we will commit today to the Lord's service and to making everything else secondary in importance.

Can you name anything more important than helping share the story of God's love with the rest of the world? I can't, but this is a huge job! Our world and our culture is quickly moving away from God, and as of now, we're losing ground. The claims and credibility of Christians have become laughable in our country because so many of us live lives halfway serving God. When we claim to live for God and "push his plow" but spend most of our time looking back instead of ahead because we're distracted by other things, we do a bad job of plowing and make a pretty good mess of things. We either need to start giving our all to pushing the plow for God's kingdom by living lives that are radically defined by our love for God and others or stop plowing all together. To plow while looking backwards because our attention and affection are focused on something other than our God is careless and the reason why Christian hypocrisy is so rampant and disdained today.

My Grampa would always say, "driving a car is like driving a bullet," to remind people of the lethal potential driving has to kill and damage if one is careless or reckless. Driving a plow for the Lord's kingdom is no different. If you and I don't watch where we're going or how we're living, and if we don't take our stewardship as ambassadors for the king seriously, we may find ourselves sending bullets headlong into the reputation of God until he is so humiliated and embarrassed that nobody would want to believe in him. The writer of Hebrews reminds those of us plowing where our focus should be. "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross..." (Hebrews 12:2).

I can't think of any better motivation to keep on plowing and to keep living in a manner that glorifies the Lord than to think upon what Jesus has done for us. He gave up everything, including his life, so that we could experience forgiveness, freedom from guilt, joy and peace. I wouldn't trade anything else in this world to give all that up and neither would you. Will you follow Christ without regret, make his name and glory your first priority, and push the plow without looking back today? The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.