Don't Look Back

DON’T LOOK BACK

By all means, Jesus cautions us: Don’t look back. It will only make the journey harder.

If we are going to follow him, our lives are going to keep moving and things and people keep changing around on us. Why?

Why must we keep saying good-bye to people we love?
Why must we keep growing and changing and maturing?
Why do we have to keep losing things along the way—our health, our families, and our dreams?

One of the greatest temptations to look back comes from all the hurt we have left behind, hurt that still screams for our attention. Maybe it is hurt we caused; perhaps it is hurt someone else caused. Or it may be a hurt caused simply by the volatility of life.

No one ever continues to learn without recalling the past to some extent. Jesus is not taking the past away from us—but he is making it painfully clear that LIFE always takes us down the road. We must keep moving in order to get there, and allow him to hold the past for us in his loving hands.

There is a reason why we bury our dead. It is, after all, a way of placing them into the arms of God so he can carry them and we can move on. It can be hard to leave behind the life we have enjoyed and to keep moving—unless we really can see Jesus along the way.

The New Jerusalem comes at the end of the story. So, for now, we will always be clearer about what Jesus is asking us to give up than about where he is taking us. Along the way to Jerusalem, Jesus may take us places where we would rather not go. He may bring gifts into our lives we would rather not have.

Each year of our lives, he will invite us to drop some of the things we are carrying, because these things are becoming too heavy. They weigh us down, and we’re holding them too tightly. Jesus does all of this simply to get us into the new holy Jerusalem, where our salvation becomes clear and perfect.

This is why we put our hands to the plow and do the work we’ve been given to do today. It’s all a way of seeing Jesus. And we’ve got to keep our eyes on him, or we’ll never make it to the Holy City.

Christians equipped for right living are prepared for losses, crosses, changes, and conflicts. They bow low, walk tall, and fight hard all the time. No matter how dark the days we face, we must make it our continual practice to acknowledge God’s sovereignty over our world.

Let’s tell Him regularly how grateful we are that He has the final word.

“Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you. Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path. Don’t get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil” (Proverbs 4:25-27 NLT).

(Some of these thoughts are adapted from M. Craig Barnes in Sacred Thirst: Meeting God in the Desert of Our Longings)