Thoughts on Today's Reading

[The Reading]

Luke 9:60-62 [The Cost of Following Jesus]

And Jesus [13] said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” 61 Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” 62 Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

It gets really uncomfortable when the faith and life demand by Christ simply doesn't match the faith and life that I have. It makes me wonder...what we view as 'radical' Christianity is really just 'normal' Christianity in the eyes of Jesus. And what we view as 'normal' Christianity might actually be...repulsive.

The words in Luke 9 are really hard to swallow no matter how many times one reads them: "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God"

First, it can be really hard to even put one's hand to the plow in the first place. There are so many sinful and even seemingly innocuous distractions day to day. We may lack motivation, energy, time - whatever. As a result, we really just work on our own kingdom and build our own castles.

Second, even if we put our hand to the plow, it's guaranteed to be hard work. Kingdom work is never intended to be an easy alternative to whatever occupied one's time before. Indeed, one should expect it to be difficult.

Third, once those difficulties hit, disappointments come, and discouragement becomes overwhelming, we are to keep our eyes fixed ahead and not look back to the life we once had before, or the life we could be living otherwise. I initially thought that this would really be a battle of discipline and will. One can will himself to keep his eye fixed on kingdom work. One can discipline himself to stay the course. Yes, that is true. But I realized, that the ultimate motivation and cause of one being able to keep one's eyes fixed ahead is not merely discipline but desire.

The only way we, as Christians, will be able to keep our eyes fixed on Christ and not turn to the world is if we find more beauty in Christ than than in the world.