“March Forward and Stay Focused”
Philippians 3:12-14 of the ESV Bible tells us, “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
And Luke 9:61-62 (ESV) tells us, “Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God.”
So, why is it important to not look back? Let me tell you. God doesn’t want you to try to go back and undo or change anything. He wants you to press on and let Him show you the possibilities of your future. Rather than going back to try to fix your mistakes, or others’ mistakes, or try to mend what’s broken within your families, your children, your mother’s, sisters, brothers, or fathers, God wants you to do the best next thing to eliminate the effects of sin. He doesn’t want you to get stuck dwelling in the past. You can look at the past, learn from the past, but you cannot live in the past. You must give your past to Jesus. There are many things you must forget from your yesterdays: Your defeats, the betrayal of committed adultery, those parents who abandoned you when you were young, the brother or sister who badly hurt you, those family and friends who falsely accused you, the other woman having your husbands child, or the woman who got pregnant from another man that wasn’t her husband, the molestations, the rapes, the physical, emotional, and verbal abuse. I could go on and on, but God wants to heal you of these hurts.
Luke 9:61-62 let’s us know that Jesus was attracting followers. Not only was He known to be a miracle worker, but He had also sent out His followers who proceeded to do the miraculous and see the triumph of the Kingdom of God. So, others came. But they came with conditions. They came with delays in their promise to follow Jesus. One said, “he needed to bury his father.” In context, this would mean close to the family at a time of death to receive an inheritance. It’s not completely clear that his father was dead. In Mathew 8:21-22 (NIV), it states, “Another disciple said to Him: Lord, first let me go and bury my father. ‘And Jesus said to him, ‘Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.’”
Jesus’ words here and in other parts of the New Testament, can sound harsh to modern ears. That’s at least partly due to the misconception that Jesus was soft, passive, and weak. Two things are important to understand. First, this man most likely wasn’t asking to simply go to his father’s funeral and come back a few days later. It’s possible his father was not even dead. The man was asking Jesus up to a year’s delay before returning to follow Him-no matter what, his statement is “I will come when I’ve done some other things first.”
Secondly, and let me first intercept here, “Who wouldn’t want to follow an amazing God like ours?” “Who wouldn’t want to follow Jesus, who sacrificed Himself for the world?” and “Who wouldn’t want the Holy Spirit that resides within them, the chance to guide, lead, and keep them focused on running their race?” I don’t know about you folks, but like the song says, “I’ll go, if I have to go by myself.” The thing to understand here folks is that Jesus absolutely asks those who would follow Him to place a greater commitment on their love and loyalty to Him than to anyone else, including parents, spouses, and children.
Jesus tells the man to let the spiritually dead bury those who are physically dead. In other words, only those who follow Christ are on the road to true Life. As with his response to the Scribe, Jesus’ remark is meant to challenge assumptions-forcing someone to confront their own sincerity. If this man is not willing to follow Jesus until it’s socially convenient, he’s not willing to follow, AT ALL.
Listen, concerning your hurts, whatever they may be, you must put yourselves under the forgiveness of God as well as forgiving those who hurt you. The devil is the ACCUSER here. Don’t give him a footstool into your lives. He will always bring up your past mistakes. Now I ask each one of you, “What are you still looking back to, and why can’t you let it go?” Why you’re trying to study your Word; fast, meditate, pray, or just simply trying to spend time with God, the enemy will come whooshing in, defiantly, to remind you of a past trauma, incident, or situation just to try and keep you stuck in the past and from moving on. Now look at you, you’ve given in to it and have neglected your task at hand, which is keeping “Your hand on the plow and not looking back.” Quit trying to cling to those relationships, situationships, friendships, and sexualships. Yeah, I said it, especially when you say that each of these kinds of “ships” come with benefits. The only benefits you need is your God and Jesus.
God wants to take what has been formed in you and put it to use for His Kingdom. Being “fit” for service means to cease the backward gaze-and the longing-for what came before. Nothing should ever repeat, and I know as Christians, at times this is easier said than done. You aren’t going to dot every “I” and cross every “T.” You must first seek the Kingdom of God or else you’ll end up seeking comfort in what you once knew such as depression, anger, bitterness, betrayal, unforgiveness, alcohol, cigarettes (because you start screaming, “I’m stressed out), fighting, bashing others, judging others, gossiping, seeking your own vengeance, or drugs.
In Mathew 16:24-26 (ESV), it says, “Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?”
Was Jesus putting forth some recipe for worthiness or fitness to be a Christian? Is His love, forgiveness, and acceptance of you based upon your good plowing abilities? The statement Jesus makes is true, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God.” And let us ALL be honest, “Who hasn’t or doesn’t look back?” “Whose plowing has always been straight?” I know mines hasn’t if we’re being honest. At times much of my plowing while on my Christian journey has been with one hand on the plow and the other looking back with my head spinning around in worry, doubt, not trusting, fear, anxiety, pain, hurt, and confusion, questioning God about why this and why that happened?
One look back, one hand off the plow for even a moment, one crooked line and you’re unfit. When you read about the encounter between Jesus and this man, the thing you are supposed to come away with is how much you have in common with him. Yes, Jesus’ words are hard here, but truthful, and you’re desperate to believe that He’s not speaking about you. You’re quick to come up with all the reasons why this isn’t you, right down to labeling yourselves as the opposite. And when you do this, you miss the entire Gospel. Until next time folks, stay blessed!!
