THE THINGS LEFT BEHIND
"Another also said, 'I will follow You, Lord, and become Your disciple, and side with Your party; but let me first say goodbye to those at my home.' Jesus said to him, 'No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back [to the things behind] is fit for the kingdom of God'" (Luke 9:61,62 AMP)
The disciple in this story had already left home once to accompany Jesus. Yet he longed to revisit what he left behind. Jesus rebuked him for his "double-mindedness." He used the example of a plowman to accentuate the idea of the fruitlessness of looking to the things left behind. A plowman must look forward as he plows, making each furrow line up with the previous so his field may be most productive. If the plowman were to continually look back, his rows would become crooked, either too close together or too far apart, effecting the productivity of his field. Jesus' brother James, used another illustration on the same subject: "For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the billowing surge out at sea, that is blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind . . .[For being as he is] a man of two minds--hesitating, dubious, irresolute--[he is] unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything (he thinks, feels, decides)" (James 1:5-8).
The one who hesitates and is irresolute about his devotion to God, cannot be entrusted with the kingdom of God. Jesus likened the kingdom of God to a costly, precious jewel, a treasure, a fertile field, which is entrusted to those who devote themselves wholly to it. These are those who give up all for it--even the things left behind. They look forward to the fulfillment of God's promises to them and keep steady in their faith and devotion to God and Christ. They like the Apostle Paul are "forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead." They are pressing "on toward the goal to win the [supreme and heavenly] prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling (them) upward" (Philippians 3:13,14).
Dear friend, if you have set your hand upon faith in Christ Jesus for your salvation, forget what is left behind and press on toward the prize that awaits you! Think about it.
"Another also said, 'I will follow You, Lord, and become Your disciple, and side with Your party; but let me first say goodbye to those at my home.' Jesus said to him, 'No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back [to the things behind] is fit for the kingdom of God'" (Luke 9:61,62 AMP)
The disciple in this story had already left home once to accompany Jesus. Yet he longed to revisit what he left behind. Jesus rebuked him for his "double-mindedness." He used the example of a plowman to accentuate the idea of the fruitlessness of looking to the things left behind. A plowman must look forward as he plows, making each furrow line up with the previous so his field may be most productive. If the plowman were to continually look back, his rows would become crooked, either too close together or too far apart, effecting the productivity of his field. Jesus' brother James, used another illustration on the same subject: "For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the billowing surge out at sea, that is blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind . . .[For being as he is] a man of two minds--hesitating, dubious, irresolute--[he is] unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything (he thinks, feels, decides)" (James 1:5-8).
The one who hesitates and is irresolute about his devotion to God, cannot be entrusted with the kingdom of God. Jesus likened the kingdom of God to a costly, precious jewel, a treasure, a fertile field, which is entrusted to those who devote themselves wholly to it. These are those who give up all for it--even the things left behind. They look forward to the fulfillment of God's promises to them and keep steady in their faith and devotion to God and Christ. They like the Apostle Paul are "forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead." They are pressing "on toward the goal to win the [supreme and heavenly] prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling (them) upward" (Philippians 3:13,14).
Dear friend, if you have set your hand upon faith in Christ Jesus for your salvation, forget what is left behind and press on toward the prize that awaits you! Think about it.
© S.M. Hudson, Hidden Treasure Ministries, December 2003. All rights reserved.
Categories: forgiveness
