Saturday Sermonette - One More Step, This Time Forward

And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.”
But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Luke 9:61-62 NKJV

Okay, show of hands: How many of you follow Jesus without question wherever He goes, doing everything He says to do, never looking back?

How many times just this week did I look back? I've lost track. This was a week of wishing time and again we'd done something different so that my husband would still be alive and well. I do miss the man. So, yes, I haven't been exactly been keeping my plow in a straight row going forward.

Fortunately, there's no way I could ever on this earth earn my way into the Kingdom of God, even if I never once looked back. It's grace that will get me there, the Father looking at me as though at His own dear Son. His own dear Son, who always stepped forward on God's chosen path, no matter where it led, never looking back.

I wish that I could always do everything perfectly, but all I can do is keep on trying, one foot in front of the other, until I get to the end of this earthly path. With a few backward glances, one step forward at a time. We'll get there, Jesus and I together.

Father God, Blessed Son, Holy Spirit--I'm still the clay, You're still the Potter. I'm still the plowgirl who can't keep a row straight for love nor money. I'm so glad you're still in the  grace business. By Your own grace, You can straighten my crooked rows and make a finished vase of me. Have Your own way, Lord. I give You all that I am, have been, and will be. Amen.