Of course! A truer statement never existed. God's Word is truth! This means that once you've chosen to follow Jesus, have accepted Him and been baptized into the family of God, you cannot look back from where you'd been, choose to return and still enter the Kingdom.
I've often thought myself fickle, jumping from one thing to another. I guess I'm always looking for something new and constant change--of things or direction. Just ask my husband! I have more cross stitch or knitting/crocheting projects going at one time. I need a bit of change occasionally...or more like always. But one of my life's events stands firm...my love of Christ. I can't imagine going back to the way I was or the way I thought. It's His love that draws me daily. Tomorrow it will be my eleventh year of Christ! I look forward to this spiritual birthday with more enthusiasm than my physical birthday.
I'm so thankful that the soil of my heart was fertile and is now being well-watered and cared for. I'm thankful the tiny seed took root and grew. Oh, there are weeds that pop up occasionally that need to be removed. I'm thankful as well that I have a heavenly Gardener who will help me with that chore.
I think of Lot's wife. As Lot and his family fled Sodom prior to it's destruction, his wife was told not to look back or she would turn into a pillar of salt...God's words of warning. Don't we sometimes look back and think about, maybe even long, for something from our past because it was a comfort at the time, a good season of life? Those days are over even if they were good times. We can think on those things, but to long for them, no. If we have received Christ and have left behind our sin and unrighteous life, we surely should not be looking back. There are so many more pleasant and great things to look forward to, even in the midst of our own little or great destructions that might come to us. I don't know what "Mrs. Lot" was longing for considering the lifestyles of the people in her city, but she couldn't resist. Perhaps she was just a bit fearful about where they were headed, their new life. Perhaps her faith wasn't as strong as her husband's. At any rate, she didn't get very far before she chose to look back...and lose her place in the Kingdom...and became that pillar of salt.
It's all about faith. I know I've made the right choice in life...at last...I wish it had been sooner. So now it's my faith that keeps me looking forward with eyes and heart open for the next thing God wants me to do. My past is over and although I've failed a few times, that's all over and I need only to keep my eyes focused on the Lord. Oh, I'll fail again, I'm sure. Hopefully my failure will be less.
Faith means being steadfast, holding to the words of Christ and believing that what we have let go of is well worth it. Only the future things, in and through Christ, are worthy.
Oh, the faith it takes when we cannot see our future. At least not our earthly future. Don't look back. Look forward to that heavenly reward. That's the most important. Stand firm.
For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end...Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. (Hebrews 3:14, 1Corinthians 15:58)
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