“No one who sets a hand to the plow
Jesus, in Luke 9:62
and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Jesus says this to a man who says he will follow Jesus when Jesus calls him to, but first he has to say farewell to his family. How many times do we do that in life? Where we say, “Yes, I want to do this, but first I need to do…”
How many times do we fail to follow Christs calling or live His ways in the world simply because we are afraid to let go of something, or keep putting something before Him?
How many times do we look back and hold on to something, rather than letting go and move forward trusting in Christ.
If you’re like me, all too often.
The verse above really stuck out to me because I work in the Agriculture industry here in Indiana. I work for a company that develops and produces corn and soybean seeds, and one of our mottos is that we help famers succeed.There is something very spiritual and biblical about farming, not only because it is used regularly throughout the Bible, but because of the whole lifecycle.
You cultivate the earth, bury a little seed in it, water it, provide fertilizer and nutrients, and it begins to grow. It is really a miracle. And then you must be patient. You must trust that enough rain and good weather will let the plant flourish, and when the time is right – you harvest. And the cycle repeats year to year.
We are in the wake of perhaps one of the wettest springs in the mid-western United States that anyone can remember. Seed is still being planted, while some has emerged, but we are a good 6-8 weeks behind from a normal year. Some farmers just chose not to plant at all because they could not get into the fields and are relying on insurance and government assistance, while others got planted only to find more heavy rains come and swamp their fields, causing major dead spots. Our company is not immune to this as we have to produce what we sell the next year. The weather for the summer and fall has to be close to perfect conditions to have a successful yield for everyone. But we trust. We trust that God will provide.
So why am I writing about this? And what does this have to do with today’s readings? I’m writing about this because it’s a good example of how you can hold on to what is, and let it paralyze you, or you can let it go, look forward and place your faith first and trust in God that He has this. And in this industry, I have encountered so many faithful men and women who simply trust in God and live their faith in what they do.
You can either fall to the fear let it control you, or you can do what you can and move forward, trusting that Christ will provide.
And this is what we need to do in our own spiritual lives. God wants cultivate our soul, and He is continuously reaching out to us, planting the seed in our hearts.
Do we not reach back, afraid of what we might be leaving behind, afraid of what we might have to give up? Do we place our ultimate trust in His Spirit to guide and provide and protect us amidst all the uncertainty, or do we give in to that fear and not simply trust?
What is it that you are hanging onto, that is preventing you from living a life fully in Him? When we place Him first – everything else will work itself out.
