Part of our year-long series: Fixing What’s Broken to Build Back Better
Scripture: Luke 9:62 (KJV)
Looking Everywhere Except Where It Matters
On the night of April 14, 1912, the RMS Titanic was steaming through the North Atlantic at full speed. High above the deck, two lookouts stood in the crow’s nest — Frederick Fleet and Reginald Lee. They had one assignment: watch for danger ahead.
The night was bitter cold and unnaturally calm. The sea looked harmless — smooth like glass. But that calm was deceptive. The tragedy of that night was not just the iceberg itself, but the fact that the lookouts were looking everywhere except where they needed to look.
They were scanning the horizon for other ships, monitoring everything around them — and missed the massive wall of ice directly in their path. When Fleet finally saw it, he rang the warning bell — CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! — and shouted, “Iceberg right ahead!”
It was too late. Steel scraped against ice, ripping a fatal wound into the hull. Within hours, the “unsinkable” ship was gone, and more than 1500 people lost their lives.
Beloved, that’s exactly what’s wrong with us today. We are watching everybody else’s status, while ignoring our own spiritual icebergs.
Examining Our True Spiritual Status
This is exactly what Jesus was addressing when He said:
“No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Jesus isn’t asking about your neighbor’s status. He’s not asking about your family’s status. He’s not asking about your pastor’s status.
He’s asking: What’s YOUR status? Where are your hands? On the plow — or on the remote?
Lamentations 3:40 says, “Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD.”
Here, we’re going to examine three spiritual conditions that reveal where we really stand in our spiritual development.
- Are we sidetracked by others?
- Are we stagnant in our spiritual growth?
- Are we stuck in our past?
1. Are You Sidetracked by Others?
One of the greatest dangers in the body of Christ is being sidetracked by other people. Manipulated. Controlled. Distracted from your divine assignment.
If folks are falling out with you because you’re trying to serve God more faithfully, that’s not conviction — that’s control.
Scripture calls it a Jezebel spirit — a controlling, manipulative force that seeks to intimidate you away from obedience.
1 Kings 19:2 , 1 Kings 21:25 , and Revelation 2:20 all warn us about allowing manipulation to take root in our hearts and in the church.
2. Are You Stagnant in Your Spiritual Growth?
The second condition is stagnation. Hebrews 5:12–14 rebukes believers who should be mature and ready for nourishing, hearty spiritual meat — but are still stuck on milk, like a spiritual infant.
Some of us have been saved for 20 years, but haven’t grown. Same testimony. Same struggles. Same excuses.
In Texas where I’m from, once the weather warms up, people are warned to check their property for standing water. Why? Because stagnant water breeds mosquitoes — and mosquitoes breed disease.
Friends, stagnant faith works the same way. When spiritual growth stops, spiritual compromise multiplies.
3. Are You Stuck in Your Past?
Paul declares in Philippians 3:13–14 that he forgets what’s behind and presses forward.
Some of us are chained to yesterday’s pain. Rehearsing old hurts. Nursing wounds from years ago. Building monuments to pain God already delivered us from.
Holding onto broken pieces won’t fix your future.
Jesus’ Status: Mission Accomplished
Jesus had every reason to check His status. Born in poverty. Rejected. Betrayed. Abandoned. Using our human logic, He had every reason to get stuck.
Yet Hebrews 12:2 tells us He endured the cross for the joy set before Him.
And on the cross, He declared, “It is finished.”
So, What’s Your Status?
Are you sidetracked? Are you stagnant? Are you stuck?
Romans 10:13 says, “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
2 Corinthians 6:2 reminds us: “Now is the accepted time… now is the day of salvation.”