Put Your Hand to the Plow
“No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:62 NIV
These are Jesus’ words to a man who had responded to His invitation to “Follow Me.”
“I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” Luke 9:61 NIV
I was listening to the bible on my way to the airport recently and this response caught me as it never has before, so I promptly hit pause. As so often happens when we actually pause and listen, the Holy Spirit delivered a message my heart needed to reconcile.
Lately…I’ve been looking back. Reflecting on this. Reflecting on that. Reflection is a good thing, but too much time looking back can cause an accident…like driving on the interstate while staring in the rearview mirror. That’s a great way to miss your exit or plow someone over. I’ve used that line before and it’s a good illustration, but this “hand to the plow” comment caught me in a deeper way.
Maybe because it’s planting season. We’ve recently moved back to my hometown. The place where Lori and I grew up. Our kids now get to attend the school where we fell in love. We get to enjoy the outdoors of my youth, see old friends, and put our feet in the soil that grew me. We’re working as a family clearing land to build a house on our family farm near my old clubhouse. Lots of great things to reflect on and reminisce. Moving back has been great for our family, but it’s also a challenge.
I absolutely love that I get to partner with Jesus in rescuing the hearts of men, women, and marriages. I get to work from home and have the great flexibility my family needs. Experiencing someone’s heart feeling like a beloved son or daughter for the first time brings me great joy. Fighting for the hearts of others is what truly makes my heart most alive. However, untangling from the matrix of money has not been easy as the shift in cash flow from a good corporate career to full time ministry was much more of a challenge than we anticipated.
God has always provided for us…BUT…sometimes, I find myself missing the cash flow we once had. The ability to make things happen in a physical sense was once a reality for me. I could take the bull by the horns and get things done. With today’s economic challenges, I can look back and think for a moment “What if I stayed…” There is no fruit in this kind of looking back. Well, there is fruit, but not the good kind.
Back to the plow and the pause. What was Jesus really saying in his response?
We know Jesus used parables, metaphors of surroundings and experiences to tell stories and give examples. I believe those who heard this statement knew exactly what he meant. It’s hard for us today to understand a metaphor from a culture or environment we haven’t experienced. Jesus wasn’t condemning their work ethic or ability to perform for the Kingdom. He was inviting them to focus on what was ahead for the sake of the Kingdom. Which brings me back to my paused moment.
Another blessing of being back home is getting to help in the garden. Growing up, I was always in the garden or the hay field with my folks. I won’t say hauling hay is a blast or that picking up rocks in the freshly tilled soil was my favorite thing to do, but driving the tractor is a little boy’s dream and feeling the freshly plowed earth between your toes is life giving. Through it all I learned something about focus, and the Holy Spirit reminded me of that with this verse.
Train up a child … my dad teaching my youngest son, John David, to put his hand to the plow.
When plowing a garden, rows need to be straight so they’re easier to plant and work as you weed and harvest. Plus, it just looks a lot better. In order to get a straight row, you need to look to your destination. Find a focal point on the other side of the garden. Focus on that one point and head toward it. This focal point will allow you to plow straight rows. However, if you’re looking back as you plow, your rows will be all kinds of crooked. If you continue to look back as you plow you’re “not fit for service on the farm.”
When I started a journey toward ministry several years ago, Jesus whispered the following words to encourage me about the process of becoming who I was created to be…. “You trust in the destination, trust also in the journey.”
As God met me in Luke 9:62, I was able to glance in the review mirror, but focus again on my destination. I trust in the destination for the vision and calling God has given me and understand the process. Because of this, my heart finds peace and is content on the journey. I love that God used traffic and a commute for another training session to settle my heart and invite me to write again.
I wonder … To what is God calling you? Do you trust in your destination? Are you trusting in the journey? What must you fix your eyes upon as your focal point?
My beloveds in the garden
