Too Busy Looking Back

Distracted.  I guess that what you would call it.  My husband would call it not paying attention, but something definitely had my attention-it just wasn't the car in front of me. Looking in the rear view mirror at the car that I just passed, which was now behind me, I couldn't tell if the woman driver was wearing a costume or this was her "everyday" look.  With jet black hair perfectly coiffed in a beehive style, pale white skin, ruby red lips and eyes dramatically accentuated with liner, she had the look of Elvira.  Completely  mesmerized by her appearance, I looked forward just in time to throw on my brakes as the sub-compact vehicle in front of me screeched to a stop.  Thankfully my reflexes were quick enough and my brakes strong enough to stop before an accident occurred. 


How often are we the same way-too busy looking back that we fail to see what is going on around us?  Unable to even see what is right in front of us?  We live in the past.  Many  look back to a time when things seemed good, there were successes and that time is remembered with great fondness.  Unfortunately this can be a problem when we start to compare life then with life now and begin to become bitter with our current circumstances.  Often the reality of those "good ole days" is that they were actually not all that good and were greatly  romanticized. 

Others look back at their past and see one full of failure and sin.  Many can't move past their sin and the consequences of it.  It is difficult for them to grasp how or why God would forgive them when they can't even forgive themselves, but our God is compassionate and merciful.  Scripture tells us,

"If we confess our sins, He is faithfull and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."  1John 1:9

When we come to Him in repentance there is nothing that He can not or will not forgive.  Not only that but,

"As far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us."  Psalm 103:12

         "For I will forgive their wickedness and remember their sins no more."  Hebrews 8:12

There are those who understand that they have been the recipient of God's amazing grace through Jesus Christ and have known His mercy, but somehow look back at their past and feel like it somehow disqualifies them for service.  The truest joy is to have a testimony of coming to know the Lord at a young age and walking in close fellowship with Him the rest of your days, but for a great number of us that is just not the case.  My own story is one of coming to know Christ as a child and yet living a number of my years very far away from Him. I had lived a lifestyle and made choices that broke my heavenly Father's heart.   Satan used that period of time to try to cause me to somehow believe that God would not use me-that my past made me unworthy for the areas of service that I felt called.  You see, Satan knew that if  he could keep me looking back then he could keep me  from moving forward where God was calling me.   God showed me that He could  use me in spite of my past and  He would use my past as a way of showing others His forgiveness, grace and mercy.  I am thankful that He doesn't just redeem us, but He redeems our past, as well. 

Perhaps you find yourself in one of these spots in your life where you are looking back, instead of looking ahead.  Paul wrote in his letter to the Philippians,

"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 3:13b-14

It is difficult for us to see the future that God has for us when we are staring at our past. Let's look ahead and fix our eyes on Jesus Christ-after all, in Him is where abundant life exists!!