No Turning Back

I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back, no turning back.

I remember singing that song in Sunday School, and learning the story of Lot's wife, who looked back at the sinful towns of Sodom and Gomorrah with longing, then turned into a pillar of salt. I remember thinking "I won't turn back like she did! I will always follow Jesus!"

But I realized something in the last week. I though that looking back with longing to a life without Christ is what gets people into trouble, but it's not just that. Sometimes following Christ means leaving the things you love, and they might be great things, but He commands up to press on and look forward.

Proverbs 4:25-26 says, "Let your eyes look directly FORWARD, and your gaze be STRAIGHT before you. Ponder the path of your feet; then all of your ways will be sure."

God is leading me in the path He has planned for me, a path that will bring me pleasure, and Him immeasurable glory and honor (Psalm 16:11, Psalm 23:3).

I know this, and yet sometimes I look back. I look back to my family and friends, to mu church and the fellowship I love and am comfortable with. I look back to things that are good, but to things that are not straight ahead, directly in the path God is leading me on now. If I look back, I am going to run into a wall. And it is going to hurt.

God promises to show is the way we should go. He says, "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near to you" (Psalm 32:8-9).

God will show us the path He wants us to take when we daily surrender every aspect of our lives; our families, our loved ones, our routines that make us so comfortable, our wishes and desires, and even our very lives. If we look backwards like a horse without a bridle, we will walk backwards, stumble, fall and get hurt in the process. If we surrender our lives and our ideas for the path we should take to Him, and fix our gaze on the author and perfecter of our faith, we will have a peace that passes understanding, even when things seem bleak.