Finally we read of another, who was also probably a disciple of sorts. It seems very hard.
This volunteer was also beginning to look back, and his looking back was going to disrupt his discipleship. We might not be able to read all this from a simple request to say goodbye, but the Lord was able to do so. This looking back is associated with the man giving up. He looks back because there is something attractive behind him which he wants to return to. This is not the outlook of one who successfully enters the kingdom of heaven. Old desires that are not fully put to death can revive and overwhelm us. The weeds of sinful desire can grow up and choke the newly germinated shoots of new life. True conversion engages the whole being, not just part of us. There is in the heart of the new convert a realistic reckoning of his entire inner life, and all sin in sight is put to death; no darling sin is spared. The root of sin is no doubt still there even in the one who is born again, but there has been a counting of the cost which means that he will not turn back. That make a person fit for the kingdom of heaven, and without that he cannot truly enter the kingdom of heaven. It is easy in a way to follow Christ; all you do is repent and believe. But at the same time you have got to turn from your old life and give yourself to the Lord, and sometimes we don't see that: optimism makes us unrealistic.