1 Kings 19 tells of when Elijah threw his mantle upon Elisha.
He was plowing.
He was faithful in where he was planted.
But the moment Elisha realized that he had the opportunity to do MORE, he burnt the plow and killed the oxen.
Why didn’t he leave those at home, for his parents? He could’ve kept them stowed away there, no one would’ve thought anything of it.
But when things got hard, when Elijah went to glory, when people didn’t like Elisha, when he was talked bad about, when he had to run from people in power for speaking the truth, he would’ve remembered that he had the plow and oxen stowed away at home.
He would’ve had an out.
He would’ve had something to go back to.
He could’ve laid down the mantle from Elijah, and picked up the plow.
But he had burnt his “escape plan.”
Burn the plow.
Or whatever you’re thinking about putting aside just in case things get hard. Don’t give yourself the opportunity to quit.
Burn the plow.
And when the winds roar, and the thunder claps, and the world is against you, you’ll know there’s nothing to go back to. There’s nothing for you but to press towards the mark.
Burn the plow.
And when walking with God isn’t popular, when your marriage calls for extra labor, when your children rebel, when the church faces warfare, when the enemy comes in like a flood, you’ll have no way to go but forward.
Burn your “back up.”
There is no way but forward.
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