Monday's Devotion from Epiphany
Luke 9: 62Jesus said to him, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” (NRSV)
Sometimes, I wish that Jesus wouldn’t have used so many agrarian illustrations. How does one make them relevant to a society that is largely urban, at best suburban? Most people I know are limited to growing things in pots, maybe postage stamp sized gardens but most of these people are not farmers. We tend to take larger scale things for granted as we cruise the produce sections of our mega-marts. I suppose that since he had surrounded himself with a bunch of fisherman that he knew what he was doing.
I think that Jesus is telling us a couple of things here. First, commitment to following him cannot involve a constant looking back at where we have been or what we have left behind. We most focus on what is in front of us, on that which is at hand. We can’t be thinking about what we once did, or what we could have done, but what we are doing, what we should be doing.
Secondly, most of us will never be satisfied contemplating what we have accomplished, we must be continually moving forward. Speaking of relationships, Woody Allen once compared them to a shark that must continue moving forward or it will die. So it is with Jesus and us.
The past, O Lord, is often a safe place to be, We remember the good old days and forget that they probably weren’t as good as we think. Help us, in our following to only focus on the task in front of us, the task which lays ahead. Amen
Sometimes, I wish that Jesus wouldn’t have used so many agrarian illustrations. How does one make them relevant to a society that is largely urban, at best suburban? Most people I know are limited to growing things in pots, maybe postage stamp sized gardens but most of these people are not farmers. We tend to take larger scale things for granted as we cruise the produce sections of our mega-marts. I suppose that since he had surrounded himself with a bunch of fisherman that he knew what he was doing.
I think that Jesus is telling us a couple of things here. First, commitment to following him cannot involve a constant looking back at where we have been or what we have left behind. We most focus on what is in front of us, on that which is at hand. We can’t be thinking about what we once did, or what we could have done, but what we are doing, what we should be doing.
Secondly, most of us will never be satisfied contemplating what we have accomplished, we must be continually moving forward. Speaking of relationships, Woody Allen once compared them to a shark that must continue moving forward or it will die. So it is with Jesus and us.
The past, O Lord, is often a safe place to be, We remember the good old days and forget that they probably weren’t as good as we think. Help us, in our following to only focus on the task in front of us, the task which lays ahead. Amen
posted by John | 1:53 AM
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