No looking back, no looking to the past, only looking to the future. Only making forward movements and never backwards. Moving forward in Christ is where we should want to be. We should always be desiring to go to another level and never desiring to go backwards. There is no looking back.
"Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” Then He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.” And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.” But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:57-62 (NKJV)
In Luke 9, a man in the multitude said unto Jesus that they would follow Him wherever He went. They said this without knowing the true cost of what they desired to do. Jesus told the man that He had no place to sleep, no place to rest but still the man wanted to follow Him. To another, He said 'follow Me' but he said let me bury the dead and let me first say goodbye to my family. Then Jesus said to them that no one is fit for the Kingdom of God if they put their hand to plow and look back. We cannot look back or go back to the way things were, we have to be continually moving from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18). We have to take up our cross daily and follow Christ.
"Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me." Luke 9:23 (NKJV)
The story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is one that is heard and told very often. This story in Genesis 19 talks about the destruction of that city and how Lot and his family escaped. It says in verse 17, "so it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere
in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed.” The angel of the Lord told them not to look back at the city when they were escaping but Lot's wife did not listen to this command. "But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt." - Genesis 19:26
It is very important that we do not look back on the things that we would have done in the past before we even came to Christ. When we came to Christ, all of our sins were washed away and we became a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). Don't let people remind you of who you were in the past, don't let people condemn you . There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. You are who you are by the grace of God (1 Corinthians 15:10). Your identity is in Him.
"There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." Romans 8:1 (NKJV)
There is no looking back, there is no taking our hands off of the plow, there is no giving up on this Christian life. There will be times and trials that would want us to throw in the towel and to give up but we must not. We must continue the good fight of faith and press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus. We are more than conquerors, we are overcomers (Romans 8:36-37).
"To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne." Revelations 3:21 (NKJV)
