Don’t Look Back
Does God ever think that the price He paid for you and me was too high? The price of His own Son Jesus Christ?
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Don’t Look Back (by Tim Klink of Prison Discipleship Ministry)
Philippians 3:13-14
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Some day try jumping into your car, and head on down the highway… while looking constantly in the rear view mirror. Not only does that sound really stupid, but it is extremely dangerous to you and others around you. But that is how so many people live their entire lives, looking in the “rear view mirror” of their life. They may take occasional glances ahead, but their focus in on what’s behind them.
There are those who cannot figure out why their life never accomplishes anything, especially for the Lord. Most of the time the reason is because they are allowing things from the past to define who they are today. Remembering the difficult times should be the encouragement you need to make the changes needed to succeed. As you are driving through a storm, and you come out of it, you can look in the rear view mirror and you will still see the storm. That storm is behind you and should not keep you from going forward.
The things in your past, regardless of how severe they may be, are just that – in the past. You cannot change one micro-second of anything once it has been done, so why would you allow it to control you? It’s “lifetime” is past, and it is now “dead.” The only control it can have over you is the control you grant it by dwelling on it.
The apostle Paul uses the term “reaching forth” to express the action needed to break the control of the past in your life. Reaching is an action that stretches you, and reaching always has a goal that it is trying to obtain. The goal is the “high calling of God through Jesus Christ.” The “calling” is the opportunity to serve God that He places in front of you, not behind you. Someone once said don’t look back, we’re not going that way. Which way are you looking?
