Following Him

   As they were walking along the road, a man said to Him, "I will follow You anywhere You go."
   "Foxes have holes," Jesus told him, "and birds in the air have nests, but the Son of Man doesn't have a place to lay His head."
   He told another man, "Follow me."
   "Lord, let me first bury my father," he said.
   But Jesus told him, "Let the dead bury their dead. But you go and tell about God's kingdom."
   "I will follow You, Lord," said another, "but first, let me say good-bye to my people at home."
   "Anyone who lays his hands on a plow," Jesus answered him, "and keeps looking back isn't fit for God's kingdom."
Luke 9:57-62

Honestly, I extremely dislike these verses. They always make me question my faith. Not question as in, "Do I believe in Jesus?" but more like "Would Jesus be happy with my faith?"

Notice how it doesn't say what happened to these men. We are all left wondering did these men forsake earthly comforts, their dead, and their family and friends to follow Jesus? And if he asked us to walk away from these same things, would we?

I mean, if Jesus showed up at your door and said, "Follow me," we would drop everything and follow Him, there's no doubt in my mind we would, but He doesn't physically show up at our doors anymore. Ours is a different challenge. Do we follow Him wherever He leads, even though we don't get to see Him? Even when we don't know where we will stay or what we will eat? Even when death claims someone you love, do you keep going? Or do you keep looking over you shoulder to see what you left behind for God.

Looking back costs us. We know that. Genesis 19:26 says "But Lot's wife looked back and became a pillar of salt." She knew not to look back. The Bible doesn't say that she looked back in longing, wanting to go back. It doesn't matter why, all that matters is that she looked back.

Friends, it doesn't matter why we look back. Looking back distracts from God, from what He has told to do, from the path that He has set us on. Don't look to the things you left behind when you started to follow God. There is an old expression "If you are not moving forward, you are moving backward." It's time to move forward.

Sam