Don’t Look Back! - Genesis 19:26

But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. - Genesis 19:26

    The command of God was clear as a cold winter night. There were no ambiguous terms or conditions. The command was terse and succinct - “So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, ‘Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed.’” - Genesis 15:17. Yet like so many of us, Lot’s wife ignored the Lord’s directive and looked back. On the other hand, unlike so many of us, she met God’s justice immediately.
    Whether it be a longing for our old life of sin or just a pining for the familiarity of our old ways, we too often turn away from God’s commands, even if only for an instant. And sometimes an instant is all it takes. Jesus even warns us of the distractions which lead us to perdition. “But Jesus said to him, ‘No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.’” - Luke 9:62.
    We are told that the old man is dead, the old self, the old way finished. “For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.” - Romans 6:5-6.
    Once we were all sinners living a sinner’s life. We were born in sin and except for the mercy and grace of God we are destined to die in our sins. Sometimes the justice of God reaches out to greet us as in the case of Lot’s wife. Other times God is patient with us for a lifetime. But know this: we have not eluded our omniscient God. His justice will not be thwarted. “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.” - Galatians 6:7-8.
    Like the title of the Thomas Wolf novel, “You Can’t Go Home Again,” we must understand that once we have heard the word of God we can no longer feign ignorance or hide behind mock naivete. Once we have been exposed to God’s light, we can never again hide in the darkness. We know we are sinners in need of salvation. The cross of Christ Jesus looms before us just as surely as our sinful lives hang from our coat-tails. To look away brings judgment upon us, and while it might not be immediate, it awaits us in God’s good time.
    When we look longingly back at our sins or where we have been in the flesh, we take our eyes off the prize that Christ has provided for us. We can only obtain what God has set aside for us if we live according to the cross rather than the flesh. “And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.” - 2 Timothy 2:5
    There is a cost associated with salvation. Fortunately, we do not have to pay it. It has been paid for us by Jesus Christ. But we must accept Him as Lord and Savior to realize our redemption and we can’t do that if we are preoccupied with our old lives and our old ways. We cannot possibly focus on the gift of grace provided by God if we are intent upon looking back over our shoulders at the life we lived in sin! We must purge ourselves of sentimentality for wickedness. There can be no nostalgia for sin. We simply have to seek Christ. “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.” - Romans 13:14.
    Those in the faith do not look back at their old lives any more than one who has survived a near-fatal crash looks back with fondness at the moment of impact. We are new creatures living in the shadow of Christ’s cross, saved for eternity by His holy sacrifice. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” - 2 Corinthians 5:17.