Meditating on Jesus’ words “No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God,” in my homily this weekend I looked at ways we often “look back” and get derailed from our journey towards God.
In what ways is God calling each one of us to plow forward as we follow Him day after day in our ordinary lives? In what ways are we sometimes tempted to “look back” and get distracted from our path to God?
-I think we look back every time we hold a grudge or resentment against someone. Rather than moving on, forgiving or accepting someone’s sincere apology, we indulge deep in our minds past hurts that keep us looking back. Rather than focusing on how we may improve by growing closer to Christ, we hold on tight to the past, holding back our spiritual growth.
-We look back when we allow past hurts to get us bent out of shape. Past hurts may cause anger, but our anger only hurts those who are closest to us and anger does nothing to fix the past. It just gets us worked up and harms us. Holding on to hurts and allowing anger to flare up in us prevents us from moving forward and they keep us looking back.
-We look back if after confessing a sin, especially a very serious wrong, we still believe God has not really forgiven us. We look back when we doubt God’s infinite mercy. God’s mercy is final, by that I mean that when God forgives us, he forgives us unconditionally. Once forgiven, we have no need to look back, but rather give thanks for God’s mercy and move on.
-We look back when we re-visit past sins in our minds, our memory is very powerful and we can quickly find ourselves indulging in past sins. What happened in the past, especially things we may not be very proud of, belong in the past. God gives us the present moment to move forward with him, constantly giving us a new opportunity to follow him and love him.
-We look back when we glorify the “good old days” and fail to live in the “now.” The past is in the past, it cannot be changed nor can it be brought back. We cannot live in the “what ifs” or our lives, wondering constantly on what may have been. The fact is that God has willed us to be here today with all our joys and pains, successes and failures, and we must accept them and move forward with his help.
Looking back keeps us distant from Jesus who is calling us to follow Him today, right now. If we look back, we may miss his gentle call to us. We must move forward trusting that Jesus makes all things new, transforming and healing our past.
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