Looking Back

by HJS

It isn't how you start that counts but rather how you finish! Rarely does the individual who sprints out of the starting blocks with a burst of speed break the tape and win the race. This is what Jesus had in mind when He said, "No one who puts his head to the plow and looks back is fit for the service in the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:62).

You can't drive looking in the rear-view mirror. Neither can you accomplish God's purpose in your life vacillating, compromising, wondering whether you should commit yourself to the task before you.

Jesus' comments about looking back after you have put your hand to the plow was the linchpin to a conversation He had with several people as He challenged them to follow Him. One had an excuse that he first had to go bury his father. Then he would come and follow Jesus. Another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-bye to my family."

Nobody can find the victory, the joy, and the power to live as God intends us to live until he makes the decision, unconditional and without reservation, to walk with God. You can say "No" to the Lord, but you can never say, "No, Lord" because when you say "No" you deny that He is Lord.

There is strength and power in the decision to move forward, to refuse to look back, going for it no matter what happens. When you turn back, or even look back, you stumble over the future and what you might have been, what you might have accomplished, what God might have done through you.

Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."  LUKE 9:23