Am I Fit for God’s Kingdom?

Am I fit for the Kingdom of God?

The New Year’s Eve dust has settled, we have entered the New Year and we believe that it will be another year of challenges and joy, struggles and victories. We have our plans, we have certain intentions. For some, it will be a change of flat, job, giving birth to a child, taking up studies or their first job. Each of us has our own dreams and desires, which often have to wait a long time to come true until the next seven years of Joseph’s dream have passed.

The first New Year text that intrigued me and to which God drew my attention is Luke 9: 57-62. The thing happens on the way, many people tried to follow Jesus, they saw miracles, signs, healings, the multiplication of the bread and many others, and in fact, we have nothing to worry about, just be with Jesus – you will not be sick, and if you will He will heal you, you don’t have to worry about food, as he can run out of food. He can multiply it. Besides, everyone adores Him, He does so many great things. However, here in this passage it can be said that Jesus discouraged those who wanted to follow Him like that.

First, zealous, he says I will follow you wherever you go, and Jesus shows him that it is not comfortable because he does not even have his home or apartment. It calls for the second to follow him, but for him more important are worldly problems, the funeral of his father, by the way, I still wonder why the custom that the clergy are the ones who deal with funerals, this verse indicates otherwise. Jesus strongly points out that it is spiritually dead people who deal with such things, while those reborn by the Spirit of God should be in life and be life.

Another person wants to say goodbye to the household members first, not knowing why, he doesn’t go to war. And here Jesus says the words I want to focus on –

No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God.

What does that mean? Where does this comparison come from?

I was born into a family where my father was called a peasant worker, i.e. he worked professionally and owned 5 hectares of land, which he farmed. It was not a lot, but in the 60s and 70s, where the soil was handled and there was something to be done by hand. In fact, the whole family was involved in agricultural work. We had our own horse, two cows, a few pigs and poultry. From an early age, each of the children helped their parents work in the field. I remember there were three kinds of plowing. So the first after the harvest of the so-called stubble cultivation, where the idea was to plow in the stubble left over from mowing the grain. Another plowing, the proper one, took place in the fall and it was the so-called deep plowing, where the idea was to plow in manure and prepare the field for winter. Sometimes, for example, when winter crops were sown, this field had to be further worked and finally rye or wheat grains were planted in, which germinated in the spring. The last, third type of plowing was the spring one, which consisted of loosening the soil so that everything that we planned to sow into the ground could be sown in the spring.

Of course, when we look at these activities horizontally, we must notice that the farmer had everything planned and thought out. He knew what and where to sow or plant. It was forbidden to sow wheat or sugar beet, for example, year after year in the same place, because the soil was already exhausted, because these plants were very demanding. Of course, it could all have been treated with fertilizer, but it was poorly available, and otherwise it was not healthy. So my father looked far away at this field and had to consider such situations as a place for pastures for cows and horses, food for animals for winter and many other factors that made up the whole of this mosaic.

From this perspective, , as I reflect on the years in the past, I reflect on Jesus’ words. I imagine what it means to look back? I imagine my father plowing and looking back, of course it is a picture, because Jesus does not mean that he sometimes looks back, maybe to check if he is plowing, but the point is that he is looking at it. he got bored of plowing, he lost the sense of plowing, maybe during spring plowing he would think, it was so nice to be at home, warm, only for eight hours to work and rest, you could listen to free Europe, meet your buddies, spend time with children. And here you have to be alone in this field, me and the horse and the plow. The work was not easy, plowing is one of the hardest field work, therefore the role of horses was quickly replaced by tractors.

“ Looking back – teaches St. Athanasius is only having worries and a return to liking the things of this world ” ^[1] . This is what one Christian thinker translates it, it may be like a seed that has been sown on a rock has sprouted little roots, but the worries of this world caused that plant to wither. Maybe not worries, because everyone has them, but the human approach to them. You can live a life worrying about everything and what will be like this or that. Stones will appear, the turf will appear, the sun will scorch. And I will give my role a rest this year. The children will go to social welfare, we will survive somehow. Looking back is also a picture of Lot’s wife, who, despite the angelic prohibition, was looking at Sodom while she was on fire. She probably felt sorry for what she had left behind. Perhaps it suited her life among depraved people.

Perhaps we, , people who experienced spiritual rebirth remember the old times with longing, or maybe we have not changed anything in our lives , after knowing the Lord, but we live the same sinful life and we don’t think about some plow, a field, a plowing. There are so many attractions in this world, why loneliness, why look at the horse’s rump, instead of beautiful girls, etc. I look back and after my first, second or fifth infatuation with God, but I come to the conclusion that I do not want to live like this. I do not want to give up anything or give up anything, I have my own plan for life and I will implement it. If God wills, let him join in, and if not, my life will finally end.

Perhaps we have taken up service in God’s Kingdom, we have become a preacher, we run a religion for children or young people, maybe we are worshiping in our community, or even we are displaying songs from a projector. Maybe we are leading a home group, maybe we are praying intercession for the sick and the enslaved. After the first months, when we told everyone what a wonderful service it was and what a distinction it was, we saw that everyone got used to our service and it is actually a tedious duty that takes us time and does not give us money J

Do we look back then , everyone has doubts, this is our human ailment, but what do we do at this point, do we look to the future, do we see it, do we understand what we are doing? I think this is the key to effective service, that as my father knew what, where, when and how to do it, he also had a goal to feed the family, so we also have to take away from the Lord the purpose and plans, how and why to do all this. When we have the perspective of eternity and of our choosing and teaching the Lord in different situations, it is not difficult for us to grasp each plow that the Lord places in front of us. For if we prove ourselves in a small field and we are faithful to our calling, we can be sure that the Lord will invite us to work on larger areas. However, what God is all about is to teach us responsibility and faithfulness. Perseverance and diligence. Not to seek your own glory, but to bear in labor and in giving fruit for the Kingdom of God.

It is not suitable for the Kingdom of God, it is a difficult talk, Jesus is not talking about heaven, about salvation, because some people will not even think about a plow before going there, but he talks to us here and now, to people who have a lot life before us, so that we do not sleep or squander God’s talent invested in us, but multiply it, with our persistent work in the work to which God calls us. Not in what we think, but in accordance with the Word of God – Thy will be done – and therefore Thy will be done in my life, I want to do what you call me to and endure the hardships of plowing.

Let us not be lighthearted like Ezaph, who sold his birthright for a bowl of lentils, gave up in his youthful stupidity to the blessing and living for God in Father’s house. But let us follow the example of the Lord and the apostles, faithful to our calling in spite of all adversities, until the Lord withdraws us from the work. Let us not be children abandoning their toys when they get bored, but let us be men and women of God who with endurance bear fruit and develop daily in the Kingdom of God.

Yours in Mr. Kazik – 03-01-2015

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