Thoughts on "Copperhead" and what it is to be "all in"

     "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:62  NIV).  This passage records Jesus' words as he concludes a "teaching moment" with his disciples.  Three men come to him as he and the disciples are walking along the road.  Each of the three wants to follow Jesus, but each has an excuse.  The third man agreed to follow Jesus but wanted first to go and say good-bye to his family.  On first glance these words seem a bit harsh.  After all, saying "good-bye" to family members isn't a bad thing, is it?   However, there is more to understanding this passage than what first meets the eye.  It isn't so much a matter of saying "good-bye" to family members.  What Jesus is describing here is one whose attention is diverted.  S/he wants to serve the Lord in the kingdom, but is distracted by the things of this world.  It is comparable to a plowman looking behind him as he plows a field.  He can't do that job well if he isn't directing his attention forward.  That's what Jesus is calling his followers to as well.  He seeks undivided loyalty and attention.  

     I thought about that some tonight as I had the chance to watch an independent movie called Copperhead.  I know.  It sounds like some weird monster movie, but it isn't.  It's a movie about the Civil War, and, in particular, northerners who opposed Abraham Lincoln and the war, not because they favored slavery but because they found no constitutional justification for it.  I'm not so much interested in whether or not the "copperheads" were right or if President Lincoln was justified in expanding presidential powers.  What did hit me, though, was the commitment made by those during that time to fight in the war.  As I watched, it became clear to me again that many young men and some boys, for that matter, when they marched off to war, they were knowingly marching off to death.  As their families gathered to say "good-bye" and cheer them on, many had to know that they wouldn't see them alive again.  There was a sense of total commitment and being "all in."   

     I wondered as I drove home about my commitment as a Christian.  Am I "all in" on doing whatever Jesus has set before me?   Are there things regarding the kingdom of Christ that I am willing to march out on knowing that I'll not likely return?    I suppose in the United States in 2013 there is very little danger that I'll have to be ready to die for my faith.  I admire, though, those who so believed in the cause of the Civil War that they'd march out to death.  I want my faith to matter to me as much.  I hope that you'll consider these questions, too.  

     Have a blessed day and thanks for reading...