So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen in front of him, and he was with the twelfth. Elijah passed by him and cast his cloak upon him. And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, “Let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.” And he said to him, “Go back again, for what have I done to you?” And he returned from following him and took the yoke of oxen and sacrificed them and boiled their flesh with the yokes of the oxen and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and went after Elijah and assisted him.
1 Kings 19:19-21
Yesterday, Pastor Mark talked about the last part of Luke 9. He briefly mentioned the calling of Elisha and I had to read it for myself.
Elisha wasn’t poor. The Bible says that he had twelve yokes of oxen, which provided for his family and was the source of their sustenance and provision.
But, when Elisha is called, he follows in obedience. He asks Elijah if he can bid farewell to his family, as Matthew Henry explains, not to ask leave of them, but rather to take leave from them.
His plow was the source of everything he had. Without it, what could he provide?
Before he goes, Elisha lights it on fire.
Is that you? Are you like Elisha?
Has God called you to leave everything behind? (Yes.)
What must you set aflame?
Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Luke 9:62
Jesus doesn’t promise that everything will go well for us. We may not have a big house, or a house at all. Jesus didn’t have one. We may hurt; it could be painful. Jesus was betrayed. We might not live to see sixty, fifty, forty, thirty, twenty-one. Jesus died.
These past weeks, God’s revealed a lot of things that I look back towards. Pastor Mark said that those that look back are those that go back. I look back at my relationships. I look back on my career plans. I look back on the need to know what’s going on. I look back on my own importance.
All of that is empty. He took a lot of it away. He taught me how to be happy when it’s just me and him. His love remains constant in times when the Holy Spirit can be felt powerfully, like music filling a room, and when circumstance has everything crumbling apart through your fingers.
His love is always true.
He bids the three in Luke 9 to leave security and comfort: forget about the uncertainty of whatever riches you have and instead place your hope in God who richly provides us with everything to enjoy, that we would look to his glory!
Be ready to set everything on fire; you don’t look back on ashes.
Father, show me what I’m still looking back at—make me an arsonist. Commit my life to the Gospel, that I might live for your Word, willing to die for your Word.
And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.
Mark 4:18-19
Warren and I are continuing to go through the lesson by John Piper.
A lot of the time that I read the Bible, in that very moment, I’m excited and willing and ready to sacrifice everything for Christ. As soon as I close it, though, I start to wonder about other things. Will I make a difference? Is my career going to be successful? Am I going to be a good enough father, husband, brother? How come I can’t do this better?
I want all this stuff and I’m completely not content with everything God has already given me. He’s given me access to him, he’s given me life, Christ, love, hope that in the end, there is sanctification and an everlasting party with the angels in his glory. The stuff on Earth is important. The stuff in heaven is more important.
Father, what can I do to remind my heart to be still?
“Learn this. Don’t forget it.”
Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will receive me to glory.
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Psalm 73:23-26
My King, there is nothing, absolutely nothing, here for me. This isn’t Home.
As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.
1 Timothy 6:17
Father, make my path straight. Remind me that what you’re doing in my life is the best thing for me. Give me hope not in riches, career, success, relationship, accolades or achievements, but the simple truth that though I had nothing, you came to give me everything. Lead me in the way everlasting!
Dad, use me to share this truth. Give hope to others with your Gospel, I give you my life in its entirety.
I ran across this wonderful photographer and pilot who takes beautiful pictures from the sky.
He took this picture over Plano, TX, where some of my closest friends come from. It looks much more daunting from the air, the crisp streets with their perfect houses and their private ponds.
Is this what blessing looks like?
As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.
1 Timothy 6:17-19
Maybe, but I believe quite rarely. Paul tells Timothy to charge the rich to not set their hopes on riches, but on God. It would seem to me better to be free of even the temptation, but who knows the ways of God!
Paul says that they must be generous and ready to share, but you don’t need wealth to do so. Being in the United States, I can say with full confidence that there are things we refuse to part with that would enable us to give.
My challenge to you today is to ask God to show you something that would be hard for you to give up and to let go of it. I’m with you on this one.
Father, show us where our generosity is lacking and where our hearts think only of ourselves. I ask that you redeem what you choose to redeem and cut away the rest, that we might burn more brightly for the Gospel without the shade and shadow of possessions. Tear away the blinds with your love!
In consideration of what I am first at, I see my primacy in my heart’s readiness to sin.
As Spurgeon writes:
All is mercy; love is the sum and substance of our gospel—love undeserved; love to the very chief of sinners.
Christ came to save The Sinner without exception. He has not chosen those that don’t screw up and get it right. No, he chose me.
But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.
1 Timothy 1:16
In dealing with being loved there is such weightiness. Being loved is the most glorious feeling in the world! But it destroys you.
How come I am loved? What worth am I to be picked?
It’s heavy and it drags your heart down lower and lower.
But in being the beloved, the one who loves is shown to be true. They may say, “He deserves nothing. Forget him and move on to la grandeur worthy of your time,” and the reply: “But I love him.”
It destroys me.
I didn’t make the cut, but here I am.
All and only to the one who’s love for me is hyperbole to the word defined. While I exist in time and memory, may only his patience for me be known as legacy, ever directing to the Glory of the Father and his extra-ordinary love.
