Many of us have seen a ploughman at work. They are very focused on ploughing a straight furrow. So much so that during the off-season they compete with each other’s expertise in ploughing matches.
The Bible talks of looking straight ahead like a ploughman. Jesus himself says, “No one who puts his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62).
He told us to ‘remember Lot’s wife’, who, escaping with her family from the judgement on Sodom (a city full of evil), looked back and became part of its destruction.
Following Christ has to be the focus of salvation – pressing forward. The Apostle Paul writes of the direction in his own life: ‘Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ’ (Philippians 3:7,8).
Paul had no intention of looking back, because his goal was ahead and not behind. He makes clear what this was: ‘That by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.’
He emphasises, ‘I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own... But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus’ (Philippians 3:11-14).
What is your overriding aim in life? Nothing can be more important than to follow the teaching and example of the Lord Jesus Christ.