January 14, 2016
Saying Goodbye
No
one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the
kingdom of God. — Luke 9:62
Read:
Luke 9:57-62
Saying goodbye is
hard—to family and friends, to a favorite and familiar place, to an occupation
or livelihood.
In Luke 9:57-62 our
Lord describes the cost of being His disciple. A would-be follower says to
Jesus, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my
family.” Jesus responds, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is
fit for service in the kingdom of God” (vv. 61-62). Is He asking His followers
to say goodbye to everything and every relationship considered precious?
In the Chinese
language there is no direct equivalent of the English word goodbye. The two
Chinese characters used to translate this word really mean “see you again.”
Becoming a disciple of Christ may sometimes mean others will reject us, but it
does not mean we say goodbye to people in the sense that we are to forget all
our past relationships. Saying goodbye means that God wants us to follow Him on
His terms—wholeheartedly. Then we will see people again from the right
perspective.
God wants the best for
us, but we must allow Him to take priority over everything else.
Dear Lord, I want
to follow You wholeheartedly. Help me not to place anything or anyone before
You.
When we follow
Jesus we get a new perspective.
INSIGHT:
Luke’s account of
Christ’s earthly life and ministry has several key features that distinguish it
from the other three gospel records (Matthew, Mark, John). First, it contains
the longest and most detailed narrative of Jesus’s birth—including the announcement
of Mary’s pregnancy (Luke 1–2). Second, Luke’s account has a significant focus
on Jesus’s interactions with women (see Luke 8:1–3). Third, Luke places more
emphasis on Jesus’s parables than the other gospels—it contains eighteen unique
parables, including the Good Samaritan (10:25–37) and the Prodigal Son
(15:11–32). If, as many scholars believe, Luke’s record was primarily written
to a Greek audience, their focus on learning would certainly account for that
emphasis. Finally, since Luke was a physician, we find interesting medical
details that the other gospels don’t include (see 9:29; 10:34; 22:44).
Source: Our Daily Bread 2016
