Don’t Look Back

Don’t look back.
Luke 9:57-62 As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.” 58 And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” 59 And He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” 60 But He said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.” 61 Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.” 62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Where you are headed is much more important than what you’ve left behind.
Luke 21:23-26 The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar. 24 Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven, 25 and He overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. 26 But his wife, from behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
Lot’s wife was just rescued from sure death.Yet, she could not bear to move forward without one last glance of longing at her past.Since…”man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”1Sam.16:7… It would seem the physical act of turning really betrayed a more lethal attitude in her life.It would seem it was not the turning of her body that constrained her to become salt, it would seem she never released the past in her heart.
Like the story of the little boy in elementary school who was reprimanded by his teacher to sit down during class.The little boy finally complied, but he said as he sat…”I’m sitting on the outside but standing on the inside.”
As believers in Jesus Christ, what have we left behind?
That is what is in the rearview mirror, our past, which has been covered over by the blood of Christ when we repent and come to Him…
Our past mistakes.
Our past sins.
Our past hurts.
Psalm 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
Micah 7:19 He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities under foot. Yes, You will cast all their sins Into the depths of the sea.
Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
What is in the windshield?
Things so wonderful, so other-worldly, that we can’t even imagine them…
1Cor.2:9 “but just as it is written, “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, And which have not entered the heart of man, All that God has prepared for those who love Him.”
The crown of life…
James 1:12 Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
And best of all…
Isaiah 25:8 He will swallow up death for all time, And the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces, And He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; For the Lord has spoken.
I can hardly wait to see it.