Burn the Plows

Steven Furtick recently released his second book, entitled Greater. In it, he uses the story of Elisha to describe how God desires our life become greater. The book was released congruent to a sermon series of the same title. It’s profound in wisdom, yet simple in application.

In 1 Kings 19:19-21, Elisha is called to follow Elijah. Elisha was in the field with his oxen and plow when Elijah arrived to bring him on board. Immediately, Elisha knew that there was something greater for him and he burned his plow and had an enormous barbecue for the people serving oxen.

Elisha had a career that was respectable and safe. He knew that pushing a plow supported his family. So when he decided to burn the plows, he left himself with no way out. He was “all in.” He didn’t give himself a back door in case things didn’t work out. He didn’t store his plow for when things became difficult in ministry.

I shared this story with our athletes after practice this weekend because many of us have plows we’re storing in the shed (metaphorically speaking). We hesitate to go all in because the results are not guaranteed. It’s scary to fully commit to something knowing the risks and that it might not work out the way you would like. We naturally hold on to those things that are less than best because it’s safe. We settle for good enough at the expense of greater.

What does it look like in your life to go “all in”? It’s different for everyone. A plow could be something like a change of attitude towards a certain situation, a relationship that might need to end or need boundaries, something physical like a habit to stop, or anything holding you back from what is BEST.

Elisha’s plow symbolized something good. The worst enemy of what’s BEST for you is what’s GOOD for you. Settling for good enough keeps us from being the men and women that God created us to be. You can’t move into greater things until you burn good enough.


Most of us are not in danger of ruining our lives. We are in danger of wasting our lives.