Luke 9:57-62
When you get married you are invariably asked the series of questions about, in sickness and in health, for better for worse, etc. It is quite a serious group of questions. Not knowing what the future will hold you are committing to a journey with another person and not knowing exactly where it is going to lead. I believe that when you say "I do" it matters little where the journey goes so long as you travel together. It is however, a serious undertaking and should be entered into soberly and with full resolve and with a 100% effort to love. In other words it is not for the faint of heart and is not something given to occasional attention.
Accepting Jesus as your Lord and savior or devoting yourself to God is very similar. It is not for the faint of heart and God asks that we commit ourselves to the power and way of love without reservation. Can we screw up? Absolutely, all the time, we are humans. That being said, we do not make the effort to love half heatedly.
If that isn't enough or seems too preachy, I tried to think of some analogies that might drive the point home. Jesus said ‘No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’ Imagine then, texting while driving? A dangerous task to put it mildly. How about driving with your eyes closed? Even more dangerous? Your mind must be on your task to succeed. Succeeding requires getting to your destination but also avoiding accidents. Perhaps we could view accidents as sins in this case. Some are more serious than others but some can lead to death ( of your soul ) or physical body in the case of driving blind.
When we say we are Christian it is presupposed that we do certain things. Even more than reading and studying the words and life of Christ, we are called to emulate him in one key aspect. Jesus asked us to love (see the 2 great commandments). We cannot be a a Christian worth our salt if we profess to be Christian but spew hateful and unloving words. Perhaps worse, like driving blind, is deluding ourselves into thinking hate is love and cherry picking passages of Scripture to fit our own agenda and not the ultimate and true agenda which is love.
Being a Christian is also not for the faint of heart. Like marriage you do not know where the journey will take you. What you do know is the God loves you and will be with you always. Like a marriage it is not a 50-50 proposition, it is 100 and 100. We must love100% of the time. And again, yes we will fail but it will not be for a lack of trying. There are no "I will love, but" in marriages or faith. There can be doubts or lack of understanding but the commitment must always be there.
As they were going along the road, someone said to him, ‘I will follow you wherever you go.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’ To another he said, ‘Follow me.’ But he said, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ But Jesus said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’ Another said, ‘I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.’ Jesus said to him, ‘No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’
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