“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 9:62
Jesus often used the things around us to help us understand what He was teaching. He spoke through simple images that we could easily recognize, especially when He was teaching about the cost of discipleship. Jesus knew that following Him would not be easy, and He wanted us to clearly understand what we were accepting. By His blood, we enter into a covenant with Him, just as He said, “This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you” (Luke 22:20). This is something many of us as Christians do not always take the time to explain clearly to new believers, yet it is central to what it means to follow the LORD Jesus Christ.
Many of us struggle to grasp, both in our hearts and in our minds, that following the Lord Jesus and joining in His mission was never meant to be easy. When we are called to follow Him, we are called to follow God in the flesh. Jesus Christ is the eternal Word, through whom all things were made. As the Word of God declares,
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” John 1:1-4
Jesus is the Creator and Sustainer of all things. saying,
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.” Colossians 1:15-17
Yet this same LORD humbled Himself. He took upon Himself human flesh, was born of a woman, lived among us, taught the truth of God, suffered, died for our sins, and rose again from the dead. Through His death and resurrection, we are delivered from sin, reconciled to God, and given the hope of eternal life in His kingdom. And to all of us who believe, He has entrusted the calling to bear witness to this gospel and to proclaim His good news to the world. This gospel of Jesus Christ, which brings salvation, is freely offered to all. Yet it was not obtained without cost. For our salvation to be given, it cost the Lord Jesus His very life.
For this reason, we come to understand His suffering and the importance of His mission to save all people as He died for them while still honoring the free will He has given to them. We are called to to be part of this mission. Yet because we have an enemy, this mission was never going to be easy.
The LORD Jesus made this very clear to us. He taught about following Him and sharing in His mission by using examples that were familiar to His hearers, so that we could fully understand what He was saying. He spoke of building a house, saying, “For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?” (Luke 14:28). He also spoke of a king preparing for battle, asking, “Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?” (Luke 14:31). None of these works are entered into lightly, and none can be completed without first counting the cost.
Then He spoke the verse we will focus on, using the picture of a farmer at work plowing his field, saying, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.
So, if we want to understand what Jesus meant when He said that a person who looks back is not fit for the kingdom of God, we must first understand the purpose of plowing and why looking back matters so much. Plowing happens before the seed is sown and long before the harvest ever comes, yet it determines whether there will be a good harvest at all.
Plowing is not the harvest. Many of us are eager for the harvest because harvesting feels easier and more rewarding than plowing or planting. Yet plowing is the first and most crucial step if there is ever going to be a good harvest. Without plowing, nothing that follows can succeed.
Plowing a field requires undivided attention. As Jesus said, a man who puts his hand to the plow cannot look back. Jesus also tells us to remember Lot’s wife. God had already brought her out to save her, yet she looked back and became a pillar of salt. Looking back does not simply mean remembering the past. It means longing for it. It reveals hesitation and a divided heart. It shows that part of us still desires the life we once lived, just as Lot’s wife longed for what she left behind.
We cannot move forward into the kingdom of God while our hearts remain anchored to what is behind us. The apostle Paul understood this when he said, “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13–14). When Paul speaks of what is behind him, he is speaking of his former life before he encountered the LORD Jesus, whether it was status, achievements, comfort, sinful desires, or worldly ambitions. These things must be laid aside and not returned to, for no man can press forward into what God has called him to while still bearing the weight of what once held him back.
These were the apostles who wholly followed the LORD Jesus. They understand what it means not to look back, and they understand the consequences of a divided heart. James warns us of this danger, saying, But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” (James 1:6-8) When we are not fully focused on the LORD Jesus, our hearts become divided. We begin trying to serve two masters, ourselves and the LORD. But a divided heart cannot stand firm, and it cannot move forward. This is why Jesus said that such a person is not fit for the kingdom of God.
Plowing a field also requires endurance. It means pushing against the weight of the soil, often under the heat of the sun, for long hours. This reflects the reality of our lives as disciples of the LORD Jesus. As we follow Him, we will face resistance and opposition that can make us feel uncomfortable, discouraged, and weary. Yet the Word of God encourages us, saying, “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (Galatians 6:9). Jesus Himself also said, “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved” (Matthew 24:13). Endurance is essential for every Christian. Endurance does not mean that when things become hard, we quit. We may need to rest for a moment, but we must not give up or turn back. We must learn to continue to persevere by praying and asking God to strengthen us so that we may overcome every difficulty we face. And we must remember that even when the work is difficult, we are not alone. God has given us His Holy Spirit, who strengthens us from within, as it is written, “That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man” (Ephesians 3:16).
Lastly, plowing requireth absolute commitment. When the work grows hard, the farmer does not turn back, but sets his heart to finish what he began. Even so, the task God assign unto us demands a heart that is established and determined. Jesus finished the work the Father gave Him to do. Paul finished his course, and so did the rest of the apostles. Even men like Samson and David, who fell short many times, were restored and finished the task God assigned to them. Their lives remind us that following God demands more than enduring hardship. It requires a heart that has already decided not to turn back. No matter what comes against us, we must be resolved to finish what God has entrusted to us. Paul expressed this heart when he spoke to the elders of the church in Ephesus, saying, “But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24). Paul was not moved by hardship, suffering, or danger because his heart was fixed on completing the work God gave him.
We are called to live with the same resolve. We are more than conquerors through Christ, and we are called to complete the task God has assigned to us. This is the purpose of our lives here on earth, that one day we may stand before our Lord in heaven and hear Him say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”
I want to end with the primary purpose of plowing, which is to turn over the top layer of soil. By doing this, fresh nutrients are brought to the surface, while weeds and leftover crop remains are buried beneath the ground, where they can break down and decay. What once hindered growth is covered, broken, and put away so that new life can come forth. This sounds familiar because it is exactly what Jesus calls all of us to do. He said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.” (John 12:24-26) The Lord Jesus calls us to follow Him with a whole heart. Not a divided heart. Not a heart that keeps looking back. He calls us to a heart that is fully submitted to Him. This is the kind of death Jesus is talking about. It is the death of our own will, our desires, and our plans to live for this world so that we can truly live for Him.
When the LORD Jesus alone is God in our hearts and in our minds, He begins to work in us in ways we could never do on our own. He worketh in us that which is beyond our strength, for it is God who bringeth the increase. This is why the apostle Paul speaks so clearly about putting off the old life. He says, “Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man” (Colossians 3:9–10). When we believe in the Lord Jesus, we no longer belong to ourselves. We belong to Him, and our lives are now lived in submission to His lordship. As it is written, “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4). What God buries, He does not discard. He buries the old so that something new may rise.
So this is now true for us all who believe, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Thus, we are no longer what we once were. The old ground has been broken, the former things buried, and a new work begun. Just as plowing prepares the soil for fruit, God prepares our hearts through submission so that our lives may bring forth fruit that honors Him.
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