Don’t we all want to think that walking with Jesus will
make our lives easier? That we won’ t have any har d times,
we won’t know struggle in our lives, but walking with God
isn’t always easy, is it? In fact, that’s what Jesus is saying in
today’s message when three men crossed Jesus’ path. Jesus
knew the burdens these three men carried because Jesus knows
our hearts. Jesus also knows our burdens; He knows our weak-
nesses and what stands in our way to truly follow Him. That’s
why He spoke to these men in this way.

The first man comes to Him on the road and says, “I will
follow you wherever you go.“ And Jesus replies, “Foxes have
dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to
lay His head.” Doesn’t sound like an easy time, does it? We
need to remember Jesus was entering into the last stage of His
ministry. It was going to get extremely rough. Jesus didn’t al-
ways have a roof over His head or food to eat. He didn’t have a
comfortable place to relax. Jesus wanted this man to know that
there will be very hard times ahead. Are you sure you’re ready
for this?

Jesus said to the second man, “Follow Me.” But the man
replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” Jesus said to
him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and pro-
claim the kingdom of God.” We think Jesus is being rather
harsh here, but when we look back at this period of life, we
find that they buried the dead the same day they died. So, if
this man’s father had died, he would not have been with Jesus
that day. It could have been the man’s way of saying; I would
rather wait until I inherit my father’s money to follow You. In
other words, he just simply wanted the money to follow in
comfort, or maybe his father wouldn’t have liked him to follow
Jesus. How often do we put up barriers in our walk with God
to be more comfortable or not offend anyone?

The third man that crosses Jesus’ path said, “I will follow
You, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my
family. Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow
and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” It
sounded like a simple request, really, but Jesus saw his heart.
He knew this was a stumbling block for him, and if he had
gone back, he probably would never have followed Jesus. We
can’t walk a straight line if we are too busy looking behind us
or at the past.

How many of us have done the same as these three? By
putting our own comfort in front of what God has asked us to
do? We make our own choices to suit ourselves instead of
what God wanted us to do. I know I have been guilty myself
on all accounts. We are tested daily in our walk with God.
Why are we tested? We are being molded. We go back to “He
is the potter, and we are the clay.” Without being tested and
surrendering ourselves to God, we will never reach who God
wants us to be. He sees so much more in us than we see in
ourselves. Let’s try to live up to His version of who we are,
and not our own.

~~Barb Novad