Don't Look Back

 

Hello friends,

We are still in a warm cycle with our weather. The downside is that we haven’t received any moisture. We must keep asking the Lord for some relief, and even snow would be a blessing at this point. I hesitate to ask for snow knowing what that might bring, but anything is better than nothing.

 

On to the devotional thought for the week. We all know people who dwell on the past, even calling the past the good old days. As I reflect on my past life I don’t really want to go back there. Sure there were good times, but much of it I wouldn’t want to live through again.

 

When Jesus was calling people to follow Him, there were some who wanted to go back home to say goodbye to family members, then obey His call. He replied with these words: “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62).

 

I don’t know much about plowing, but back in the day before tractors came with guidance systems, we were told to drive straight when mowing hay. Dad wanted those lands to be straight and square. The instructions were to focus on a fence post or tree in the distance. What usually happened was that you would look somewhere else for a moment and lose sight of the marker. Looking back had consequences.

 

Looking back should serve to remind us how we got here, but we are not to focus on the past. The apostle Paul, writing of the things in his past that he had viewed as important, called them garbage. Instead, he said, “I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:12-14).

 

Looking to our past will only cause us to stray from the straight and narrow way. The world would have us living in the “good old days” rather than heeding the invitation to follow Jesus. He is our future, not our past. Don’t look back!

For Him,

Pastor Jerry