“And it
occurred that as they were going along the road, a man said to Him, Lord, I
will follow You wherever You go. And
Jesus told him, Foxes have lurking holes and the birds of the air have roosts
and nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head. And He said to another, Become My disciple,
side with My party, and accompany Me!
But he replied, Lord, permit me first to go and bury (await the death
of) my father. But Jesus said to him,
Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and publish abroad
throughout all regions the kingdom
of God. Another also said, I will follow You, Lord,
and become Your disciple and side with Your party; but let me first say
good-bye to those at my home. Jesus said
to him, No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back [to the things
behind] is fit for the kingdom
of God.” –Luke
9:57-62 AMP
The end of the year is
the time mankind tends to look back and reflect on how the year went and then
make commitments (New Year’s resolutions) to change in the upcoming year. Of course it is often joked about that most
New Year’s resolutions are not followed through with. With our old nature it is hard to nearly
impossible for us to change. Christians
should not have this problem. We should
be changing continually throughout the year, day-by-day, as God works with us
to bring to completion the salvation of our souls (mind, will to do, intellect,
and emotions) –Phil. 2:12-13. Let us
take a moment right now and do a self-assessment: Am I changing to be more like Christ
day-by-day? No? What is hindering me?
One of the things that
can stop us from growing in the Lord is looking back. Looking back really should not be part of the
Christian lifestyle. What does looking
back get us? In Luke 9 one man walking
with Jesus told Him, “Lord, I will follow
You wherever You go.” He had the
right attitude but Jesus pointed out to him that it would not be an easy
journey. The scripture does not tell us
what the man decided after that but I would like to think that he was not
discouraged and continued on with Jesus.
He did not look back. Right after
speaking with this man Jesus turned to another and told him to become His
disciple. This man’s response tells us
that he reflected and decided he wanted to tend to his family first. He “looked back” and I surmise with that
attitude that he did not continue on with Jesus. A third man then told Jesus that he would
follow Him and become his disciple but he first wanted to go home and say
good-bye to his family. Although this
man spoke of being a committed follower Jesus could see his heart was not fully
committed. He was looking back. Jesus pointed out this lack for full
commitment by comparing it to a man plowing a field.
My Uncle Harry had a
ranch in Colorado
and he grew corn and sugar beats. I used
to ride with him on his tractor while he plowed the fields to prepare them for
planting. I learned then that if you are
going down the length of the field and you look back to see how well the plow
is doing then the tractor tends to drift either to the right or left, depending
which shoulder you are looking over, and often you miss turning over about a 10
to 20 foot section of earth. Then you
have to go back over that section wasting time and fuel. If you did that very often you would not be a
good farmer or rancher. Don’t look back.
Let me share
another instance of looking back:
“And
when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot,
saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou
be consumed in the iniquity of the city.
And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the
hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the Lord being
merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the
city. And it came to pass, when they had
brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou
in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed…Then the Lord
rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of
heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the
inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. But
his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.” –Genesis
19:15-17, 24-26 KJV
The scripture does not say why Lot’s wife looked back but I can
imagine it was very hard for her, having lived the nomadic life for so long
before coming to Sodom, facing living in tents again, away from the comforts
and ease of city living. She probably
had friends she had to leave behind, let alone her rich belongings being the
wife of a wealthy man. Maybe, as they
rushed away, she heard the thunderous noise of the destruction of the two cities
behind her. In any case, she looked
back. She looked back to the life she
once had and she was immediately turned into a pillar of salt.
Now I know you are
thinking, "Well, we're not going to turn into salt in this day and
age," and you are probably right but looking back always has consequences,
and not looking back has them too. Listen to something Kyle Idleman wrote
in his book, "Not a Fan" (which I strongly encourage every believer
purchase and read):
“A few years ago I was pretty deep into some
tribal areas of Africa. One night I finished preaching a message to a
crowd of a few dozen people. I presented
the gospel and the invitation of Jesus to follow him. There were two young men, probably in their
twenties, who accepted Christ and committed to follow him. The following afternoon these two men showed
up at the house where we were staying.
They each carried a good sized bag over their shoulder. I went over and asked the local missionary we
were staying with why they were here. He
explained that these two men would no longer be welcomed by their families or
in their village. When I heard that, I
was afraid that maybe this was going to be more than they would be willing to
go along with. About that time the
missionary said to me, ‘They knew this would happen when they made the
decision’.
They were choosing Jesus over their families. They were choosing Jesus over their own
comfort and convenience, and fans don’t do that.
Followers are willing to deny themselves and say,
‘I choose Jesus. I choose Jesus over my
family. I choose Jesus over money. I choose Jesus over career goals. I am his completely. I choose Jesus over getting drunk. I choose Jesus over looking at porn. I choose Jesus over a redecorated house. I choose Jesus over my freedom. I choose Jesus over what other people may
think of me.’ A follower makes a
decision every day to deny himself and choose Jesus…even if it costs
everything,” (“not a fan”, pg 145).
There is
no place in the Kingdom
of God for looking back. If you want to be a committed follower of
Jesus you have to commit with your whole
heart. You cannot continue to love
the world and follow Jesus (Mt. 16:24-26).
You cannot look back (Luke 9:62).
Do not wait and make a New Year’s resolution to be a committed
follower. Purpose in your heart to go
hard after God (Ps. 63:8). Do it today,
and tomorrow, and make it a renewed commitment every day from here on out. Now is the time to look forward, forward to
everything God has in His plan for your life, forward to the ways He will
deliver you through your trials, forward to growing ever closer and deeper in
love with Him.
“For I
know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and
plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final
outcome.” –Jeremiah 29:11 AMP
