| JANUARY 3, 2011
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Previous Devotionals
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DON’T LOOK BACK!
“But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.” Gen. 19:26
As we enter into a new year, we have a choice to make: Will we look forward, or will we look back? Are we looking forward to a new year of promise, or are we approaching it with dread? Are we looking back to last year with fondness, or remorse? If we look to the past, it always holds us back. If we look at the good times, we may be tempted to maintain the status quo. If we look back at the hard times, we get mired down by them, and may be afraid to move forward. Look at Lot’s wife. They were commanded to leave and not look back. Their past life held nothing for them, to stay behind meant destruction, only moving forward with God held promise. We can clearly see the dangers of looking back.
To move forward can be frightening. The future, after all is the un-known. What will it hold for us? Where will it bring me? These are questions the believer need not be concerned with, because if we walk forward with God, it can only lead to great things. Does this mean it will be easy? No! Will it be worth it? Yes! In the book of Romans, Paul describes Abraham’s faith. “He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.” (Rom. 4:20, 21) To stay put requires very little effort, but we risk stagnating like standing water will. Moving forward does take effort, so we are to be strengthened by our faith.
God has made us a promise. Will we believe it or not? We can complain about the journey we are on, and be left behind, as an entire generation of Israelites learned, or we can move boldly forward in the confidence of God’s promise to us, as Joshua’s generation had. Look at Josh. 3:15-17: The priests moved forward, dipping their feet into the Jordan, (vs.15), an obvious obstacle. The waters stopped and piled up before them, (vs.16). God had made a way because of their faith. Finally they stood on firm ground, (vs.17), and before them lay the Promised Land.
So, let us not look back, but keep moving forward. Nothing stops a river, and the impact it has on the landscape is incredible. If we move forward with God, our impact can have the same effect in a fallen and hurting world.
Verse to meditate on: But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” Lk. 9:62 |
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