Don't Look Back (Lu. 9:62)

Read Luke 9:62.

Read the following verses as supplementary material to today's thought:  Phil. 3:13; 1 Kin. 19:20; Psa. 78:8-9; 2 Tim. 4:10; Heb. 10:38; 2 Pet. 2:20-22.

Concentration and determination are needed to follow Jesus.  Don't make a good start and then fizzle out.  Stay with Him!  Focus and direction are important.  Expect the world (behind you) to continue its distraction, calling and tempting you.  Today's verse calls for a relentless, all-out pursuit of Jesus. The world has nothing for you.  Look to Jesus (Heb 12:2a); don't look back (Lu. 17:32).

1. You cannot look two directions at once.  Beware cross-eyed Christianity!
2. Direction determines destination.
3. Focus determines value, commitment and seriousness.
4. Following Jesus is not for the faint or lazy.  There is plowing to be done!  Get to it and stay with it.

Enduring To The End (Mt. 24:13)

Read Matthew 24:13.

1. This is a passive endurance.  Wait, wait, wait.  Then wait some more, all the way to the end.  You will keep thinking, "This could be it."  Be realistic without being pessimistic.  It could be it, but it probably isn't.

2. This is an active endurance.  While time passes (passive endurance), so can your level of love (Mt. 24:12), if you're not careful (cf. Rev. 2:3-4).  Active endurance means increasing and guarding your love for the things of God.  What pulls on that love, to demean and diminish it, is sin.  Unfortunately, you should expect more accepting, popularizing and legalizing of sin in society.  To protect your love for Jesus, you can't be passive.  You must be vigilant and militant against sin.

3. This is a rewarded endurance.  Salvation (deliverance) is promised.

Reaching Upward (Phil. 3:14)

Cathedral Ledge, N. Conway, NH.   8.22.13

When I first saw these climbers I thought, "They're crazy!"  Then I realized they were a picture of perseverance.  (Incidentally, notice the group is climbing together.)

"Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Phil. 3:13-14)