THINK TOGETHER.
Do you ever make excuses for why you can’t do something?
READ TOGETHER.
Luke 9:57-62. 57As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” 59To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 60And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” 61Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” 62Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
In our last devotional we said that Jesus “set his face” to go to Jerusalem. Today’s scripture begins with the words, as they were going. Going where? To Jerusalem. Along the way three people encounter Jesus and are given an opportunity to follow him. But all three make excuses. We have three potential new disciples here, but all three fail to follow Jesus.
Potential disciple #1: This person offers to follow Jesus wherever he goes. But when Jesus reminds them of how uncomfortable it is to live with Jesus, no home, no bed, no soft pillows…well, Luke never says what happens, but it’s pretty clear that they stayed home in their warm bed, rather than follow Jesus.
Lesson: Following Jesus might make you uncomfortable.
Potential disciple #2: This person is invited to follow Jesus, but they say that they have to bury their father first. That sounds reasonable, doesn’t it? But Jesus knows that this person is also making excuses. Jesus thinks that following him is more important than anything else we might do, even going to a funeral.
Lesson: Following Jesus has to be the most important thing we do.
Potential disciple #3: This person wants to follow Jesus, but they want to go home and say good bye to their family. Jesus says that this person is distracted. Like a farmer who tries to plow a field but keeps looking backwards. Or today we might say, like someone trying to drive a car but they only look backwards. Yikes!
Lesson: Following Jesus means looking at him without distraction.
When we read about these three potential disciples we might ask, can anyone really follow Jesus? Can anyone always obey Jesus without distractions, worries, and failures? The answer is NO! No one can perfectly follow Jesus. But the good news is that when we trust in Jesus he gives us the Holy Spirit to guide us and to keep us following Jesus. The Holy Spirit comforts us and helps us to keep trusting Jesus through our whole life until we make it all the way to being like Jesus when we get to Heaven. So don’t worry about how good you are at following Jesus. Just follow and God will do the rest.
Because of Jesus we can have the Holy Spirit to guide us.
With Jesus we can follow anywhere he leads.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Play “follow the leader” again. This time have someone try to distract the followers from following the leader (have fun with it). Were you able to successfully follow without being distracted or drawn away?
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus, lots of things distract me from you. Help me to always want you more than anything else. Amen.
TLICfamily 