Wednesday, November 14

Keeping the focus forward.

"Jesus said to him, 'No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back [to the things behind] is fit for the Kingdom of God.'" Luke 9:62 AMP

How many times in our lives as Christians have we looked to past behaviors, past sins, or past regrets and wished for an opportunity to change those things. Forget the redemption of our sinful past, we would simply like to know what we know now and go back into those times to stop ourselves from making those choices. How often do we look at our current situations and curse ourselves for our failures in the past that caused the opinion, knowledge, or action that put us in the uncomfortable position we find ourselves?

We live in that past hurt; retain that past anger, or even embellish a past service, so we can pull it out when the going gets tough and claim a right to get a free pass through the current crisis. After all, we've paid our dues and done our time.

Or we use our past to prevent ourselves from attaining in the future, or answering God's call for us in the purpose for the kingdom. We point to the lack of 'righteousness' or 'our sinfulness' as due cause to stop our requirement to go where God would have us go, or to explain away the conviction of the Spirit concerning our spouse, our children, or continuing sin. We just show ourselves as unlearned fools.

God doesn't want us to forget our past, but to go into our past with the realization of redemption and the healing of the Spirit into the wounds of our lives, seeking forgiveness and forgiving those moments that have defined us. To allow the presence of God in the circumstances of the past so He can show us how He has used it for the future.

To plow, one has to continue in a forward motion; otherwise the plow will bind up and not perform the job it was designed to do. Even when we go into our past, it is with the intent of forward motion, to redeem what was lost, heal what was broken, and give to God the rest. To realize our past is an effective and helpful story for those who would listen.

What in your past is preventing you from going forward into the purpose God has for you? How can you go into the past and go forward through that situation that's holding you down?