Being Fit

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

BEING FIT

Luke 9:57-62

57 As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." 58 Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."  59 He said to another man, "Follow me." But the man replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." 60 Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God."  61 Still another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family." 62 Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God." 

NIV

Although we might be able to look at the three different men and what the response of Jesus was to each of their reasons for not dropping everything to follow him, it is his final statement that is the main point. Each of them had something to go back to do, although maybe not the first man. Still, Jesus did not tell him, “Sure, come and follow me”. However, it still comes down to not looking back. Once we decide to follow Jesus, that former sinful life must remain in the past, and every year, that past becomes more and more distant. Do we remember that formal life of sin? Yes, of course, it is impossible to forget, our minds simply have memories of our life experiences. But to desire to go back is not there. We would never return to that kind of life. However, the kicker to all this is the concept of following Jesus. Are we simply being Christians, or are we followers of Jesus? Have we actually put our hands on the plow, so to speak? Is there a difference between living as a Christian, doing what we think Christians are supposed to do, following the rules and regulations we feel we should, and simply following Jesus? What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus, putting our hands to the plow, or as Jesus made it clear, being a servant in the kingdom of God? There has to be something about being fit for service in the kingdom of God. This means that each one of us has some kind of service in the kingdom. When Jesus said that he did not come to be served, but to serve, then we have the truth of following Jesus. It is not to be served, but to serve. That means we have to do more than just come to church on Sunday and take up room in a row, and simply listen to a “Good sermon” and go home to our normal life until the next time there is something to attend, a prayer meeting, a bible study, or whatever. Are we just attendees, or are we followers of Jesus? If we are following Jesus, then we must go back to the idea of daily taking up our cross and following Jesus. However, the word ‘service’ is not in Greek in this verse, it is simply, if we look back, we are not fit for the kingdom of God. Still, following Jesus must include following Him, and doing what he did. We should always be straining forward, marching forward, changing, always being transformed, always reflecting His glory in ever-increasing glory. That means we can never be static, doing the same thing every day, simply living as a Christian, but not really following Jesus. Let us always be following, walking alongside with Jesus. If we are following that means moving forward, being fit.