This was Jesus' response to one of the 3 volunteers who asked Him if they could come and follow Him. Jesus knew they weren't ready to make that big of a commitment so he basically told them that they weren't ready. And in order to follow Him, we need to put him first. Not 2nd or 3rd or 4th but first.
I don't think he's literally saying that you can't take care of important family responsibilities like burying your father (mentioned in the story in Luke). What I think he's telling us is that we need to leave all the distractions behind that could keep us from following Him.
When I read this story in the bible, I am reminded of my daughter Winter. I take the girls on mini bike rides around our community. It's not a busy place so it's pretty safe for the most part. The girls love it. Mya is always in the front and Winter is my little distracted one. She is constantly looking behind her. I'm not sure what she's looking at but she rarely looks forward for more than a few seconds. I am constantly yelling at her to look forward. She has almost run into so many parked cars because she's not looking forward. One time she actually did run into a car that was parked. I was in front with Mya and Dan was behind Winter. Evidently he was not aware of her little problem and was surprised to see her run straight into the back of that car. She didn't learn one bit from that either. She still looks behind her all the time and I still yell at her to look forward.
I have so many distractions that steal my focus. Distractions like focusing on how much I have to do, and how tired I am and how badly my kids are behaving, how dirty my house is, all the laundry that I never seem to catch up with and how big my butt is getting. Sometimes I waste so much time in my closet obsessing over an outfit that won't make me look too huge.
What does it mean to follow Him? For me, it means that everything I do in my day to day life should be about Jesus. Living the way He created me to be. That means being a mom who lives for Christ, being a wife who lives for Christ, a daughter, sister, friend, who lives for Christ.
This means putting others first in everything I do. I think the hardest one for me is putting my kids and husband first. I get caught up in how my needs aren't being met and quickly lose focus. What I really should be thinking is, how can I serve my family today? How can I bless my husband and children? There are tons of ways to bless my family. I know my husband likes smoothies in the morning and loves when I make him a salad for lunch. He also appreciates having clean underwear :) I know that all my girls want is to spend time with me, playing, running errands, reading books, or doing crafts. And they don't appreciate my attitude when I do it begrudgingly. That does not make them feel loved.
Sometimes thinking about being more Christ-like in everything I do is overwhelming. There's no way I can just start to be more Christ-like. But if I begin the day with a prayer asking the Holy Spirit to remind me throughout the day to keep focused on that, I think my chances are much greater. And soon, I will get better at it. Month by month, year by year, changes will take place in my heart and my attitude.
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