“Lord, I will follow Thee; but….”  That’s what someone said to Christ in Luke 9:61.  This well-intentioned man seemed to have the desire to live a life committed to the path of service; that is, until he interjected that little word, “but.”  The Lord’s response to his statement of “commitment” was, “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”  Tomorrow’s harvest begins with plowing a straight furrow today.  A straight furrow requires a focus, a goal, a commitment to a certain line; otherwise, the furrow will wander crookedly all over the field.  The one who can’t plow a straight line isn’t, in the words of our Savior, fit to reap the harvest.  The word “fit” that Christ bluntly used means “suited for or adapted to” and applies well to the Christian life.  In other words, the believer who does not serve with focused commitment to God’s work isn’t “well-suited or adapted” to getting the job done.  The one who allows other pursuits to interfere with his responsibilities to God’s priorities just can’t be counted on.  Those other pursuits may not be wrong in themselves, but they pull the attention away from plowing just long enough to hurt the end result, the harvest.  May I be specific?  What is the distraction that’s making your furrow crooked, that’s keeping you out of church, that’s silencing your witness, that’s spending God’s tithe, or that’s rushing you into a day without a personal time with God?  Focus, then, on Christ and His service.  Be truly committed.  Be fit for service.  Leave the “but” out.  Let it be, “Lord I will follow Thee.”  Period.