Don’t Look Back
“Still another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family."
Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."” – Luke 9:61-62 NIV
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” – 2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV
Though the title of today’s GDA is the same title to one of my all time favorite songs by the rock band Boston… and though I wish I could somehow use the music of that song to write a GDA, that’s not really what it’s about today.
I remember my senior year in college driving around in my friend Chip Loftin’s VW Bug… with the floor board rusted out and covered by a piece of wood… cranking up the then 10 year old Boston songs on his stereo and laughing at Freshman friend Bob Pierce, who had never heard of Boston at the time.
Man, we teased and laughed about that for months… that was a great day.
Isn’t funny how music can bring back a flood of memories… good and also some not so good?
I find myself sometimes looking back… looking back on life, on choices, on directions taken and have regret… Regret for past sins… for past poor choice… for things that I have done and said that may have effected or affected the lives of those people involved… And with tears I ask God to once again forgive me for my stupidity… for my wrong doings… for my sins… whether sins from long ago… or last year… or last week… or yesterday.
Then as I read Luke 9 and then 2 Corinthians 5:17, the song comes back to mind… reminding me “Don’t Look Back”
Yes, I need to ask for and be forgiven of my sin... but I’m not to dwell on it. As a sinner forgiven, I’m to move beyond the past… learn from it… grow from it… chalk it up to history and move on… eyes firmly focused on the cross… on the day… on the future… on the mission at hand… “The old is gone, the new has come”
Back when people used an oxen and plow on their fields, if they looked back on what they had plowed instead of focusing on what was yet to be done… yet to be plowed… the plowed rows would not be straight but angled from side to side. If the farmer looked back he could not walk a straight path.
Sometimes our past is just the tool that the enemy needs to pull us down… to steal our focus… to keep us from serving and sharing our faith… to keep us from reaching our full potential in Christ.
Christ on the cross forgave us of our sins (if we ask, trust, believe)… Sometimes we just have to accept that forgiveness… that grace. And sometimes, we have to forgive ourselves.
O Lord, on my knees I ask you to forgive me of my sins… forgive me of my past failures… forgive me of those things I now regret… O Lord, help me learn from my miscues and mistakes and not to look back… but to move forward in faith with you. O Lord, help me walk straight in your path… on the narrow path… Help me find you as I seek to know you more and more. O Lord, I praise you and thank you for your forgiving grace… and for the knowledge that I can do all things… overcome all things (even my past) through you who strengthens me. It’s in Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
Keep the Faith… Carpe Diem
