Loss of Vision: Looking Back Can Devastate You

Luke 9:62 - "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."
I have often pondered this verse. On the surface, it’s a straightforward commentary of “don’t look back.” But me being me, I want to know the “why.” Why does looking back make me unfit for Gods kingdom?
I am lying in bed on this gloomy Saturday morning. The doggie and I are cozied up under the covers, and I’m trying to make a move to get up and get going. I don’t want to, and Trixie appears pretty comfortable, too, if her snoring is any indication. But, now that I’ve read this verse, I am wondering about the dreaded “looking back.”

So what exactly does looking back mean? Is this a literal looking back like Lot’s wife, craving the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah? I truly don’t think that’s all there is to it. Of course it’s obvious looking back can entice us into sinful behavior. I get that. But looking back can rob us of something precious—our vision.
In the book of Habakkuk, God tells Habakkuk to “write the vision and make it plan that he may run who reads it.” It’s hard to run backwards. Try it. I just did, and I almost broke my foot and Trixie looked at me like I was crazy. No, the human body was created with forward impetus in the body, as well as in he human spirit. We are designed to MOVE FORWARD. If we continually live in our past, we are destined to fail. Why? Because the Holy Spirit isn’t going that way. He moves in the present and operates in the future.

It’s not that we are unworthy. We are merely unfit. When you look at the word “unfit” it means “not of the necessary quality or standard to meet a particular purpose.” We are disqualified, just like an unfit runner in a race. We aren’t destroyed, but we just can’t run, because our legs are broken or injured. Injured athletes can’t run.

Our past may make us who we are today, but it does NOT define us. It does NOT control us, nor does it have anything to do with our God-given vision, unless it’s uniquely equipping us to do what we are called to do. For clarity, let’s look at it like this: I once won a hog calling contest. Yes. That is true information. I actually got up on stage and called hogs in front of a bunch of people. With two old men. In overalls. At a fair. Don’t even say it. But, even though that was a funny event, a tiny piece of that experience was influential in giving me the courage to start my own YouTube channel and helped me when I had to stand in front of the church and talk about ladies ministry stuff. It was just a small piece of the puzzle leading me to where I am today. When I recall that incident (and yes, it’s humorous. Add this to the mental picture: I may or may not have been wearing Hawaiian shorts at the time), it’s not with embarrassment or shame. It’s with laughter at how God works. I had no vision about my future at that point in my life. I was young and I was dumb. I didn’t realize that incident was going to factor into my future. But the experience does not make me a professional hog caller. It was merely something that happened that God used to mold me into being more, well...ME!

What are we doing to look forward? How are we shaking off the past in order to look to our future? What are we doing to live in the moment? Or are we remembering our past to the point of being paralyzed about the future? When are we gonna let go of old hurts and let God heal us? And that, my friends, the crux of the matter. Those of us who look back are far more likely to nurse old wounds than those who don’t. Which are you? Which am I? Speaking for myself, I am not much of one to bemoan my past. There are far too many hog calling similarities in it, and not humorous ones. It was not pretty, and it would be like trying to put lipstick on a pig to say it was. Why wallow in that? It doesn’t improve the looks, and it annoys the pig. Our vision MUST be forward-looking to succeed. It must be plain. It must be written, engraved, etched into both the surface and the deep recesses of our hearts. We must run and we MUST be fit, lest we disqualify ourselves from the race. We train, like a spiritual Olympian, to be ready to plow. So that when our hand hits that plow handle, WE ARE READY!!

May God bless you today, my friends! Maranatha!