Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Don’t Look Back (04/19/12)
-
TITLE: Let the dead bury the dead | Previous Challenge Entry
By Raymond Dickerson
04/23/12 -
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES
Can you imagine that? Deemed unfit for the Kingdom of God simply for looking back? Surely He can’t mean it.
“But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.” Gen. 19:26
Okay, so maybe He can. The thing we need to ask ourselves is this: Why? What is so awful about looking back that could cause so dire a consequence? To begin to understand that, we must first travel back a few verses in Luke to find our first clue. Before Jesus explains the outcome in verse sixty-two, He issues a command in verse fifty-nine. That command is “Follow Me “and it is addressed to a few men who claim a desire to oblige Him but are in no real hurry to do so. It would seem that two of them need to go back and take care of a few things before they can make a real commitment.
Herein lays a danger in looking back: it makes it almost impossible to move forward. Jesus says “Follow Me” and He says it a lot. You see, Jesus is in a state of perpetual motion and if we are to be truly committed to following Him, looking back is not an option, for it requires taking our eyes off of Him, which is never a good idea. Do it enough and we lose sight of Him completely and then where will we be? We’ll be lost, that’s where we’ll be.
So, now we’re lost, now what do we do? Allow me to lend a little advice here, if I may. Take a break, take a seat and ask yourself a quick question. Don’t worry, it’s okay, you’ve got time. Remember, Jesus is a shepherd and when a sheep gets lost He always goes looking for it. Now, what in the blazes were you looking back for in the first place? Is there something back there that is so important to you that you just had to see it one more time? Is it sin? Is it something you regret saying or doing? Is there something lying at the bottom of the sea of forgiveness that you simply must fish out and look at one more time before you finally let it go for good?
Stop it. God forgave you for that already, so give it up. There are usually only two people that will dig up the ghost of sins gone by, and one of them will never be Jesus. That leaves you and the devil, so which one of you did it this time? Which one of you decided that the price Jesus paid on the cross was not enough to keep what’s been buried dead and gone, once and for all?
Jesus knows the danger of looking back and He knows it so well that He went so far as to say that it could keep you from reaching the Kingdom of God, and it can. In fact, it has kept many from even accepting His invitation in the first place, and if you are one of those, then I have a word of advice for you also. Let the dead bury the dead and follow Jesus. Don’t worry; He’ll take care of the rest.
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be right now. CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.
The only critique I have is when
you say Allow me to lend a little advice here, You don't need to tell the reader that you're going to say something, just say it.
You were spot on topic and did a delightful way of presenting your message. I constantly need to be reminded to let go and let go. You brought some new ways of thinking about my past that I haven't considered before and for that I thank you.