…you’ll miss what’s up ahead.
There are times in all our lives when we question “What happened to get me in this place?” Sometimes it is a question of gratitude. For most it is a question of dismay and regret. Looking back for answers is normal. Looking back is even necessary, for a while.
There comes a point in our growth and healing that we stop looking behind. There is very little we can do with the past. What is behind us is part of our history, but it does not have to define us in the present. It is only a part of who we are becoming.
When we stop looking back it is good to assess what is true about us now.
We are redeemed! Isaiah 44:22 “I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you.”
We have been bought with a price. 1 Corinthians 6:19b-20 “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
We are chosen by our Creator to be fruitful. John 15:16 “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.”
We are called to walk humbly with Him.
Micah 6:8 “He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?”
All of these point us forward, along with the many promises that we are not alone! Just as God promised Joshua 1:5 “I will never leave you or forsake you,” He has promised to be with us always.” Matt 28:20
I am well in to the second half of my life. My parents have passed along with one of my brothers. These loses, along with other life events can make us hard. Or they can make us soft, yet with an inner strength Only God can provide.
I am grateful Our Creator lives outside of time. He knows the end from the beginning. It is too easy for us finite people to live our lives looking behind us. It’s easy to cooperate with regret, fears of repeating our mistakes and shame that we are not able to reach the dreams we had as a child, or in some cases the dreams we held up last week.
Let’s look forward to the One who made us and the myriad of promises from the only One who is truly faithful. “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” John 10:10
