Ready, Aim… Never Fire: The Difference Between Saying You’ll Follow and Following

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Five Things We Will Learn

1. What Jesus said to three men confronted with the cost of following Him.
2. Why promising to follow Jesus and actually following Him are different.
3. How hearing God’s Word without doing it leads to self-deception.
4. Where James places the blessing: in putting the Word into practice.
5. Why obedience calls for a step today instead of another promise about tomorrow.

“I Will Follow You”

You can spend your whole life getting ready to follow Jesus.

You can hear the teaching, understand the vision, talk about the calling, and sincerely believe you will do something about it. But there comes a point when preparation must become obedience.

Luke 9:57–62 records three encounters that bring that distinction into focus. Two men tell Jesus they will follow Him. Jesus directly calls the other.

The first says, “I will follow you wherever you go” (Luke 9:57).

The third begins with the same promise: “I will follow you” (Luke 9:61).

The Greek expression in both verses is akolouthēsō, meaning “I will follow.” It is a future-tense declaration. That tense alone does not mean they intended to procrastinate, but the passage confronts what happens when a declaration meets the actual demands of discipleship.

The underlying verb, akoloutheō, can mean more than walking behind someone. Used of discipleship, it describes joining someone as a disciple and cleaving steadfastly to that person. These men were speaking about becoming followers of Jesus.

But saying you will follow is only the beginning.

Jesus Makes the Cost Clear

Jesus answers the first man by describing His own circumstances. Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head (Luke 9:58, paraphrase).

Following Him would require more than enthusiasm. Was this man willing to follow when the road offered no assurance of comfort?

To the second man, Jesus says:

“Follow me.”

Luke 9:59

Here the Greek word is akolouthei, a present imperative. Jesus gives a command to follow Him. The scene calls for a response, not merely a statement of future willingness.

The man asks first to go and bury his father. Jesus directs him to go and proclaim the kingdom of God.

The third man says he will follow, but first wants to return home and say goodbye to his family. Jesus answers with the image of a man putting his hand to the plow and looking back. Such a person, He says, is unfit for service in God’s kingdom (Luke 9:62, paraphrase).

Three encounters. Two promises. A direct call. The cost of following laid plainly before them.

Luke does not record whether these men ultimately followed. The passage leaves us facing the question ourselves: What will we do when Jesus’ call confronts our conditions?

Ready. Aim. Never Fire.

Think about the familiar expression: Ready, Aim, Fire.

Ready is preparation. Aim is direction. Fire is action.

It is possible to spend an entire spiritual life in Ready and Aim.

You move from teaching to teaching. You have sat in a congregation for twenty years and heard the Word preached thousands of times. You have prayed about it, planned around it, supported ministries financially, and discussed the vision with other believers.

You know what you have heard. You can explain what needs to happen.

But what have you done with what Jesus told you?

Preparation has a purpose. Teaching has a purpose. Hearing the Word has a purpose.

We are supposed to put it into practice.

Yet we can become so accustomed to getting ready that we mistake preparation for obedience. We keep aiming at a life of following Jesus while postponing the steps that following requires.

Ready. Aim. Aim again.

But never fire.

The Deception of Hearing Without Doing

James names the danger directly:

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”

James 1:22

Notice who is being deceived.

The person James describes has heard the Word. The problem is what happens after hearing it.

James compares that person to a man who looks at his face in a mirror, walks away, and immediately forgets what he looks like (James 1:23–24, paraphrase).

The mirror showed him something. But what he saw did not govern what he did next.

We can do the same thing with Scripture. We hear it clearly. We recognize ourselves in it. We agree with what it says. Then we walk away and continue as though we never heard it.

The deception is that hearing has become a substitute for doing.

You can sincerely intend to obey and still leave the command undone. You can be sincerely deceived and still be deceived.

James does not tell us to become more impressed with the mirror.

He tells us to do what the Word says.

Blessed in What He Does

James then describes a different response: a man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, continues looking, remembers what he has heard, and acts on it.

The verse ends with this promise:

“they will be blessed in what they do.”

James 1:25

The blessing is connected to doing.

We can discuss obedience for years. We can admire people who obey. We can plan what obedience might look like when our circumstances change.

But James brings us back to the person who hears the Word and puts it into practice.

What has Jesus already told you that you have yet to do?

That question deserves more than another good intention.

Put Your Hand to the Plow

Jesus called people who responded with action. Fishermen left their nets and followed Him. Levi got up from his tax booth and followed Him (Matthew 4:19–22; Luke 5:27–28).

Their response became something you could see.

They moved.

That is where this passage brings us. We must allow what we hear to change how we live.

There comes a point when another discussion about following Jesus must become a step of obedience to Jesus.

Put your hand to the plow.

Follow Him today. Keep following Him. Stop looking back for a way to preserve the conditions you placed on your yes.

Ask yourself plainly: Where have I been saying, “I will follow,” while continuing to stand still?

Then act on what He has said.

The Light Has Already Come

Jesus identifies Himself as the light of the world and promises that those who follow Him will have the light of life instead of walking in darkness (John 8:12, paraphrase).

The sun will come out tomorrow for a lot of people. For the follower of Jesus, the Light has already come.

Walk in it.

Related Torch Articles

• The Cost of Following Jesus: What the Modern Church Has Forgotten
• A Podcast Introduction to the Commands of Jesus, Greg Lancaster and Steve Kaliszewski
• Have Nothing to Do with Them: Obedience Over Sentiment

GLM