Luke 9:57

Luke 9:57 says, And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.  As Jesus and His disciples were traveling a certain way, a man came to Him and said that he would follow Jesus, whom he called Lord, anywhere that He went.  The man had decided on his own to follow Jesus, and this was a bold statement, and many people make the same bold statement today, but it wasn't necessarily a statement made from faith in Who Jesus really is.  Verse fifty-eight adds, And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.  Jesus toldcthe man that he hadn't counted the cost of following Him.  Jesus said that unlike the foxes and birds, He didn't even have a place to lay His head.  Jesus had no home here on earth, and if the man was going to follow Jesus for earthly rewards, he was going to be disappointed.  This earth is not our home, and if we are following Jesus for earthly rewards, we are going to be disappointed.  Verse fifty-nine states, And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.  Jesus called on another man to follow Him, but the man said let him go and bury his father first.  Matthew Henry says the man's father was not yet dead, but had only a short time to live.  When Jesus calls us following Him should be our first priority.  Verse sixty adds, Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.  Jesus told the man to let the dead bury the dead, and for the man to go and preach the gospel.  We cannot allow anything in the world to stop us from following Jesus Christ when He calls us, nor from doing what He calls us to do and be truly faithfulful.  Verse sixty-one says, And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house.  Another man who had decided on His own to follow Jesus said that he would follow Him once he said goodbye to his family.  He was putting saying goodbye to them as a condition to following Jesus, and we can never do this.  We must put following Jesus above everything else.  Verse sixty-two adds, And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.  Jesus said that no one who had claimed to follow Him and continued to look back at the things left behind as more important than following Him was not fit for the kingdom of God.  Once we become a follower of Christ, we cannot look back on what we have left behind materially and allow it to be more important than following Him, and that even includes our family.