Episode Transcript  

One

Turning to Look Back

We’re about a month past Easter. School is ending, summer is beginning, and with it, the temptation to relax our spiritual efforts. But our spiritual life doesn’t go on vacation. We must not turn back to the way things were before Lent.

The temptation to “turn back” seems to recur in a lot of places throughout the Scripture. Lot’s wife turned back to look at Sodom and Gomorrah and she became a pillar of salt. The Israelites in the desert continually wanted to turn back and return to Egypt. And Jesus Himself warns, “No one who sets his hand to the plow but turns to look back is fit to serve in the Kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62).

Why is looking back spiritually dangerous? Why does it risk losing not just momentum, but salvation itself?

Two

You Become What You Turn To

We human beings are in a perpetual process of becoming the person God wants us to become. We have not yet taken the final form we shall bear for eternity. In this life, our character is malleable, and we’re shaping it continually.

One of the main ways we shape our character is by what we give our time and attention to. What we allow ourselves to think about and what we allow ourselves to desire, that’s what we turn into. The content we dedicate our minds to, that shapes our souls just like the food we consume shapes our bodies.

In his second letter, Peter warns us writing, “anyone who has escaped the pollution of the world once by coming to know our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and who then allows himself to be entangled by it a second time and mastered, will end up in a worse state than he began in…What he has done is exactly as the proverb rightly says: The dog goes back to his own vomit and: When the sow has been washed, it wallows in the mud. (II Peter 2:22) 

Peter uses a gross image, but it gets the point across. When a dog turns back to its vomit, it re-consumes the filth it should have left behind. Likewise, when we turn our minds back to what God delivered us from, we start to take it back into ourselves. And that can destroy us. 

Three

Turning Back to Sin

We begin to resemble whatever we fix our thoughts on. That’s what we become. 

Lot’s wife turned her gaze back toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and she became like it, dead and sterile, a pillar of salt. What we turn toward, we become. Egypt was an idolatrous nation, punished by God. When the Israelites kept turning their minds back to Egypt, it led to them committing idolatry and being punished by God.

This is why the saints say it’s not enough to govern our actions by refraining from sin. We must govern our thoughts as well. We can’t indulge in lustful or angry thoughts. We can’t indulge in thoughts of resentment. We can’t indulge in vain thoughts, or greedy thoughts, or anxious thoughts, or self-pitying thoughts. That all shapes our character, and it shapes it not according to Christ.

So we guard our thoughts, we try to put evil thoughts out of our minds. And when we have disordered thoughts pop into our minds spontaneously, we say the name of Jesus and Mary, and ask them for help. Then we stop the wrong thought and replace it with the right thought, and then do the right action. That is how we change our feelings to be the right feelings. 

Four

Turning Back to Worldliness

There’s a quick episode in the Gospel that suggests that even when something isn’t sinful, we shouldn’t turn to it if it’s going to distract us from what God actually wants for us.

In Matthew 8, a man who has been invited to follow Jesus says, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” Jesus’ reply is pretty tough. He says, “Leave the dead to bury their dead. You come and follow me.” (Mt 8:21-22).

Now, giving your parents a decent burial certainly isn’t a sin. In fact, it’s a very good thing. But the Lord’s point is that even good things of this world aren’t as important as focusing on the main thing: God alone. After all, every good thing in this world is not going to last. Even our family and our friends are going to die, and our most important relationships will be interrupted by death sooner or later. The only thing that lasts and has the power to resurrect and glorify the good things of this life is God Himself. Which means that any good thing we want more than God is a disordered attachment that prevents us from receiving God completely. 

You might say, “I love God more than anything.” But the great spiritual masters like John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila tell us everyone has two or three good things we actually want more than God. What’s the thing that hijacks your prayer? Keeps you awake at three am? What makes you anxious, angry, or resentful when threatened? That’s likely your real treasure. That’s the thing you want more than God.   

Is it success in your profession or some success for your kids? Is it your health or the health of a loved one? Is it a relationship that is difficult? Are you worried about outliving your money? Are you frustrated about the uncertainty you are experiencing? These may all be really good things. But are you ready to drop them at a word from Christ? Or can you not pull yourself away from them? Are you continually turning back to look at them?

Because if so, it means you’re not ready to be the Lord’s disciple.

Five

Focus on the Job and on Eternity

Jesus says his disciples have to set their hand to the plow and not look back. That means we must not look back at whatever it is He is calling us to leave behind. We shouldn’t be looking back longingly at anything sinful, but it also means we shouldn’t be constantly turning our attention back to what He’s asked us to surrender, something we still want more than Him. 

Putting our hand to the plow and looking ahead means focusing on the job. And that job is union with God and holiness, which means a deep friendship with Jesus through daily meditation and serving others with uncomplaining generosity. Those are the kind of disciples Christ is looking for. Those are the kind of workers He’s looking for in His fields: Single-minded and focused.

Lord, grant us the focus to keep our hands on the plow and never look back.

Suggested Resolutions:

Choose one resolution for today to help you grow closer to God, or create your own. Here are some ideas to inspire you.

• Reflect on the things that make you most anxious and keep you up at night. What distracts you during prayer? How can you practice detachment from that thing? Do you need to cut it out entirely?

• This week, be careful not to slip too deep into nostalgia, knowing that God wants us to look to the present and not to linger in the past.

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