“And Jesus said unto him, No one, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God” – Lk. 9:62.
Beloved, instead of looking backwards, you are to look forward with your hand on the plough i.e. as you work practically in this life. Now, looking forward with your secular work means three things.
Long-term planning
First of all ‘looking forward’ means: engaging in a practical venture with a long-term plan. You know, the short-term is very pressing and often compels people to consider it first. Imagine a hungry or thirsty man. His first preference would be to satisfy his immediate hunger or thirst before even thinking about the future.
This is the religious way that the world uses in planning and leading their lives. They firstly seek food, drink and clothing or immediate gratification. But, when our Lord Jesus said you should seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness as against food, drink and clothing, He was telling you to be long-term Kingdommindedin life – Matt. 6:33.
You know, food, drink and clothing are all short-term in nature; but the Kingdom is everlasting and so has a future dimension. This is unlike food which is perishable and only gives immediate satisfaction.
Planning into the Kingdom future
“He (Jesus) also said to His disciples: there was a certain rich man who had a steward, and an accusation was brought to him that this man was wasting his goods.
So he called him and said to him, what is this I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be a steward.
Then the steward said within himself, what shall I do? For my master is taking the stewardship away from me. I cannot dig; I am ashamed to beg. I have resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.
So he called every one of his master’s debtors to him, and said to the first, how much do you owe my master? And he said a hundred measures of oil.
So he said to him, take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty. Then he said to another, and how much do you owe? So he said, a hundred measure of wheat. And he said to him, take your bill, and write eighty.
So the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. And I say to you make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home”– Lk. 16:1-9.
Look ahead
The unjust steward was commended for having a strategic plan for the rest of his life. And the Lord Jesus used this story to urge us to have long term plans that go as far as to touch on our eternal future– Lk. 16:9.
You know, your life can be divided into three – the long term, the medium term and the short term.
Beloved, in the Kingdom system, long-term plans are to be generational in nature and so may not necessarily be limited to your life-time. In other words, you must have plans that (at least)
directly affect and involve your children and grand-children, biological or otherwise.
Trans-generational plans
Please, understand that God thinks in generational terms and gives gifts on family lines. So, in calling Israel out of Egypt or the world’s system into the Kingdom system, God introduced Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob forever– Ex. 3:15,
“Moreover God said to Moses, thus you shall say to the children of Israel: the Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations”
Planning that does not directly involve and affects posterity keeps God out of it. Because He is a God of generations, He will greatly help you to achieve plans if only they are (not myopic and self-centred but) trans-generational in nature.
The general before the specific
So, in the Kingdom system of Christ, you should start planning long-term issues first and fit your short and medium term plans into it. Again, this is why Jesus said to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, before ‘food, drink and clothing’. In other words, God gives us the big or general picture from His Heavenly Kingdom perspective first, before His specific picture that forms the medium and short term.
This is important because so many times, what you see about an issue on the Heavenly mountain-top is different from what you see about the same issue in the earthly-valley below.
Blindness to eternity
And beloved, in the Kingdom system re-introduced by Jesus, long-term plans should go as far as how you want to be in the future Kingdom-era. And, short and medium-term plans should be made after this long term one.
So, do not reverse the order. Resist the temptation to commit to fallen man’s inclinations that make people satisfy their short term needs, because of their blindness to eternity.
