Looking behind is an updated post from some years back. With our current circumstances, it seems fitting to me to help us remember to keep moving forward, especially by way of looking up to our Creator.
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If you are looking behind . . . you will miss what is up ahead. Looking behind is, however, something we are all prone to do.
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. More often, it is a question of dismay and regret. Looking behind for answers is a normal reaction. Looking back is even necessary sometimes, but only for a while.
There comes a point in our growth and healing that we stop looking at where we have been. There is very little we can do with the past. We need to forgive, let go, and turn to God. What is behind us is part of our history, but it does not have to define us in the present, or the future. It is only a part of who we are becoming.
When we choose to stop looking behind, it is good to assess what is true about us now. The following are only a few truths to consider. I encourage you to sit with these, but also to ask the One who made you to tell you who you are. His response will always line up with the Word of God.
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,” Before Jesus ascended, he mad the same promise. 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. In this season it is time to stop cooperating 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 to until just recently. Now is the time to declare out future from the promises of the Word of God.
Let’s not let the enemy steal our callings and destiny. In John 10:10a Jesus says, “The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but . . .” Let’s look forward to the One who made us and the myriad of promises from the only One who is truly faithful. Lets declare and live into the promises: “. . . I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” John 10:10b
