Don’t Look Back

“And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (Lk. 9:61,62). This is a really powerful and meaningful statement of Jesus, and many have overlooked the significance of it to their own hurt. I have learned from long experience, some of which has been grueling, that you simply have to keep going in a forward motion in this life, and especially in living for God. Understand that Jesus said we are NOT FIT for his kingdom if we continue looking backward. The simple fact of the matter is, you CANNOT walk forward while you are looking backward. You can’t see where you are going like that, and you won’t get anywhere, except to stumble and fall over everything in your path. The wise proverb tells us, “Wisdom is BEFORE him that hath understanding; but the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth ” (Prov. 17:24). What that is saying is that wisdom is right in front of those who understand the way to go in. It is certain that the way to go in, to begin with, IS FORWARD; and we can’t walk wisely if we are looking behind us. There are many ways that we can be ensnared in looking backward. When the children of Israel were led by God out of Egypt, they began looking backward to Egypt as though life had been GOOD in Egypt: “And the mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick: But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes” (Num. 11:4-6).

Because the children of Israel were not content to trust God for their provision and be thankful, they somehow managed to forget the brutal hardships that they incurred in Egypt, which had led them to pray desperately for some time for deliverance. The wrong frame of mind that accompanied their discontentment with God created an illusion of “times were good in Egypt.” This also can happen with believers who become lax in “seeking first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness,” and thereby wax discontent against God in their heart (Mat. 6:33). One can look back on their life before they gave themselves to Christ, and remember the ‘good times’ that they thought they were having while in sin. Like the children of Israel, a discontented heart can give place to a mindset that somehow forgets how those 'good times’ hung them out to dry, and how they cried out desperately to the Lord to deliver them from a life of turmoil and emptiness. The cure for this spiritual malady is to simply “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works” (Rev. 2:5). If we do not, and we remain in a state of 'looking back’ at these things, then we are “not fit for the kingdom of God,” as Jesus said. Another common way that I’ve seen a lot of folks become ensnared in looking backward, is to not be able to forgive themselves or someone else for some failure or wrong doing. That is nothing more than an excuse to not persevere in faith and holiness, and move forward in God. If we are going to continue to dwell on something that we have failed in, and have repented of; then we make our own judgment greater than God’s. The scripture plainly tells us, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (I Jn. 1:9).

There’s nothing more to John's simple equation other than to say we move forward from where we are at, because that is what God is showing us to do by forgiving us. If we mean what we say when we confess a fault to God, and we ask forgiveness, then we should believe his promise and move on from there. If we do NOT move on from there, and we continue to 'look back’ at our failure that we’ve asked forgiveness for, then we must think that our judgment of ourselves is greater than God’s judgment of us, because it is his will and judgment to FORGIVE US. The same applies to not forgiving someone else for something they have done against us or against someone else, or maybe just against God and themselves. Jesus made it crystal clear that we MUST forgive those who do us wrongly if we expect to be blessed by God: “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Mat. 6:14,15). In fact he went one up on that in another place, to really drive the point home: “Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven” (Mat. 18:21,22). If we cannot forgive someone for what they have done, then we are continuing to 'look back’ at what they did instead of looking forward to their good and ours. That state of heart and mind surely constitutes not being fit for the kingdom of God. There are other ways that people can 'look back’ after being born again of God’s Spirit, but these are some common tools that the devil uses to derail the faith of those who are not continuing to “keep [their] heart with all diligence” (Prov. 4:23). These are really things that constitute knowing our ABC’s in Christ, but if we forget our ABC’s then it is certain that we will misspell everything else that we say and do, if you get the analogy. Amen.