Dave's Diary

Prayer

Briefly prepare your heart in silence, and ask the Holy Spirit to awaken your sense of anticipation that God is about to speak to you through His Word. Then, before you read, I invite you to pray this prayer based on Psalm 37:4-5

LORD, today I choose
to take delight in You, to trust in You,
and to commit my way to You,
believing that You will give me what is right for me
and graciously bless me with the desires of my heart. Amen.

Reading

Luke 9:61-62

As Jesus continued His journey to Jerusalem with His face set resolutely to the completion of His mission on the Cross (Luke 9:51), people’s hearts were stirred and some eagerly volunteered to follow Him (Luke 9:57-62). The man mentioned in v.61-62 is one of these.

He says, ‘I will follow you, Lord …’, and up to this point he is on the right track. However, then he adds, ‘…but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.’

As we view Jesus’ response, let’s realise that He was not against the common courtesy of a farewell greeting. Rather, He wanted the man to be alert to the danger inherent in this moment of leaving. So Jesus says: ‘‘No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.’

Now, that’s a metaphor that any of us who have ever mowed a lawn will understand perfectly. If you try to mow in a straight line while looking back over your shoulder, you’re setting yourself up for disaster. And Jesus is simply saying that to follow Him takes complete commitment to the road ahead. We cannot be half-hearted or in a state of longing for our past lives and expect to follow Him successfully. We have to be completely committed to Him and His Way if we are to remain faithful in the long run.

In that moment of farewell there was the great danger that well-meaning, loving family members would turn this man back from his costly commitment to discipleship. On this verse, Charles Spurgeon wrote:

“O young man, when you are thinking of leaving the world, be afraid of these farewells! They have been the ruin of hundreds of hopeful people. They have been almost persuaded; but they have gone to their old companions just to give them the last kiss, and the last shake of the hand, and we have not seen anything more of them.”

Today, let’s choose again to follow Jesus no matter the cost, and not look back in longing. let’s look forward and follow Jesus wholeheartedly!

Contemplation

Please take time to ponder what Jesus has commanded us. Turn this declaration over and over in your mind. Keep it in mind throughout the day and live in step with Your King, Jesus.

As a disciple of Jesus Christ:

• I will let go of the life I led before I met Jesus.
• I will follow Him in wholehearted discipleship.

Holy Spirit, please empower me to follow Jesus wholeheartedly today. Amen.