Following Christ Without Hesitation (Luke 9:62)

Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
– Luke 9:62

Oh, this is the last verse of a section here in Luke 9:57–62 where three people come up to Jesus along the road, and they’re basically saying, “I’ll follow You”. And Jesus looks back at them, all three of them, and says, “Here’s what it’s going to cost to follow Me”.

And the implication is basically that Jesus talked them out of following Him because of what it would cost. This last one in Luke 9:61 saying, “I’ll follow You, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home”. And Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God”.

Luke 9:62 is a calling to full-hearted devotion to Christ.

The picture here is basically Jesus saying, “If you’re going to follow me, you’ve got to be all in”. There’s no room here for half-hearted devotion in following Jesus as Lord and anyone or anything else in this world as Lord. Also, and this is so important. Sometimes we can, in our desire to lead people to trust in Jesus, kind of dumb down the gospel and make it as palatable an invitation as possible, when the reality is that’s not what Jesus did.

This is a high bar. “No one who puts his hand in the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. There’s no looking back. You are all in if you’re going to follow me”. And based on this, I would just encourage each of us to ask, if I could ask you, even as I’m asking myself this; Is there anyone or anything that we are seeking in this world, desiring in this world, giving allegiance to in this world, giving our affections to in this world more than Jesus?

Luke 9:62 reminds us of the cost of following Jesus.

And if so, we need to make a decision. In 1 Kings 18, Elijah says to a people who are following Yahweh as Lord and Baal as Lord, Elijah looks at them and says, “How long will you go limping between two opinions? Either follow Yahweh, follow the Lord, the one true God, or follow Baal”. You can’t choose to do both. Is Jesus the Lord, the only Lord of your life, in such a way that your dreams, your plans, your affections, your everything in your life centers around him? This is what it means to be a Christian.

And we are tempted as followers of Jesus to give our allegiance to other people or other things above him. Which is where we must fight the temptation to idolatry. Which is what that is. To give allegiance to anyone or anything but Jesus as Lord. We are to fight idolatry in our lives on a daily basis. So let’s pray this.

God, we pray that our hearts would be wholly set on you. And then even right now, God, please open our eyes to see anyone or anything that we are desiring more than You, that we’re loving more than You, that we’re pursuing more than You, that we’re giving our allegiance to more than You.

This verse challenges us to remove any and every idolatry in our lives.

God, we pray that you would remove the idols from our lives. That we might love you with all our heart, and all our soul, and all our mind, and all our strength, knowing Lord Jesus, that You alone are worthy to be worshiped as Lord. Certainly, money is not worthy of this. Certainly, no other creature is worthy of what you deserve as the Creator. You alone are supremely good. You alone are supremely satisfying. Lord, you alone are infinitely worthy. So help us to put our hands to the plow and not look back, to be all in as we worship You as King, as we walk with You as King, as we spread the good news of Your Kingdom.

God, we pray that we would not value our reputation more than we value you, our plans or dreams more than we value you, our comfort more than we value you. Nothing in this world. God, we pray that you would help us to live today in wholehearted, undivided affection and devotion to you. Help us to follow You wherever You lead us, however You lead us, no matter what it costs.

Prayer for the Pardhi People

Oh God, as we pray for unreached people, like the Pardhi people of India. We pray for nearly half a million men, women, and children who have little to no knowledge of the gospel. We pray for the spread of the gospel to the Pardhi. And we pray at the same time, God, do you want any of us to go to the Pardhi people of India? Lord of our lives, if you want any of us to go, we’ll go.

And if you want any of us to go to any of these other unreached people groups, we’ll go. If you want us to stay right where we’re right now, then we’ll do that too. We just want to do whatever you want us to do. You are Lord of our lives. Help us to follow you as Lord on a day-by-day basis in every detail of our lives, to be all in. We pray this in Jesus’ name, according to your Word in Luke 9:62. Amen.