Don't Look Back

As soon as my youngest child, Leah, learned to walk, she learned to run. She was definitely the live wire in our house, always keeping us laughing and on our toes. As she would run, walk and make her way around the house, we noticed that her body was moving forward, but her head was turned around looking behind her. She would run full speed ahead, but look behind her to see who or what she had just passed. We would scream our warnings, "Turn around Leah!" or "Look out Leah!" but her backwards gazing just continued. 

Soon the day came for her to learn to ride her bike. She picked up the skill quickly and while the bike was being propelled forward by her legs, her head again was turned around looking behind her. Having the momentum of the bike made the situation so much more dangerous. She could hit a tree and never even see it coming. Or the bike could swerve off the road and into a ditch all because Leah was looking backward.

Have you ever met anyone who lived their life this way? As I have gotten older, I find myself looking back and yearning for a sweeter or a simpler time. Time and life are always moving us forward but some of us have a tendency to keep looking at the past. 

Maybe for you, it's the abuse or the neglect that keeps your attention. Now you have a husband and kids but you are so caught up in your past that intimacy with your husband is lacking and fear for your kids grips your mind daily. Maybe you are constantly second guessing yourself because of a very wrong decision that you made. It seemed so right at the time but now… how could you have ever thought that was the right way to go and how can you ever trust yourself to make right decisions again? 

Maybe life seemed so much easier in the past. You had access to things that you don't have now, things like friendships, abilities or skills that are no longer yours. As long as our heads are turned to look back, we will never be fulfilled and content in the present.

Paul says in Philippians 3:13-14 "One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." 

He is calling us to let go of the past and move toward what God has for us today. We don't have to let our past define us, we can let God define us. We have a Received Identity all because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. 

As I am becoming who He has already made me to be, there are present and future opportunities He is using for my good and His glory. He invites us to look forward and upward, not continually backward and inward. As we fix our eyes on Him, and glance at our pasts we see His steadfast love for us and we are able to place our past in His hands and leave it there. 

Could it be that God is calling to you today like the mom calling to a backward looking child, "Quit looking back. Look at Me. Trust that I have you as you move forward”.

I’m happy to report that Leah is no longer looking over her shoulder. In fact she has everything to look forward to. Her forward gaze has deepened her love for Jesus and enabled her to step into her future with a deep trust in Him. 

I’m still learning to stop focusing on the past. whether I’m focusing on failures or victories. God has great things He is inviting us to press on towards. Mainly, the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.