Message summary: Today we consider the peril of looking back and urge each reader to make this firm resolve: "I won't go back!"

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“Escape for your life! Do not look behind you, and do not stay anywhere in the valley; escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away” (Genesis 19:17). “But his wife, from behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt” (Genesis 19:26). “Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it” (Luke 17:32,33). “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me” (Luke 9:23).

In the course of our ministry we regularly encourage people who are following Christ to stay the course and don't turn back to their old way of life. This is true for all and especially needed for those who came out of a life of addictions. These people deal with an additional burden of being pulled back into their old way of life.

Lot and his family were told to flee prior to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and specifically instructed not to look back (Genesis 19:17). But Lot’s wife looked back and became a pillar of salt. Jesus validates the historicity of the event and used this as an illustration of discipleship.

The Hebrew for “looked back” means more than to simply glance over one’s shoulder. It means "to regard, to consider, to pay attention to". The Scriptures don’t say whether her death was a punishment for valuing her old life so much that she hesitated in obeying, or if it was a simple consequence of her reluctance to leave her life quickly. Either she identified too much with the city—and joined it—or she neglected to fully obey God’s warning, and she died. *

“Remember Lot’s wife!” is one of the shortest verses in the Bible and can be easily memorized. You can memorize it right now! It won’t bring the encouragement or comfort that the typical verse we typically memorize might bring, but it can be a powerful antidote to a condition we are all prone to, looking back. Christ went on to teach, "Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it".

Christ calls us to a lifelong commitment that will, of course, extend into eternity. Lot’s wife, in direct disobedience to a non-negotiable command, looked back upon burning Sodom. Jesus uses this historical story to illustrate His call that we are not to look back with longing for the sinful life we previously lived.

Let's make it our desire to have a deep, abiding faith that bears much fruit. In great part this will happen as we acknowledge that some choices are clearly not optional in this Christian marathon. Let us respond to the straightforward words Jesus expressed to His first disciples and, like millions before us, let us heed these words: “deny myself, take up my cross daily and follow Him".

B e encouraged today! Hebrews 3:13