DON’T LOOK BACK

In a time of fear and pain for a lot of people the Lord has been reminding me of the need to push forward into the promises and words He has spoken and not to reflect on the past.  This is a time of considerable change for a number of people and it would be easy to hold onto what has been but I am encouraged that what is to come has the Lord all over it and is good.

Luke 17:31-32 “In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise, the one who is in the field, let him not turn back. 32 “Remember Lot’s wife.”

Throughout scripture we are reminded by the Lord to move forward and to let go of what is the past. We are not to forget the wisdom and knowledge we are taught but we are not to hold onto the things of this world.
Luke 17:33 “Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.

Whose is our life anyway.  It is the Lords so holding on loosely to those things of this world enables us to not look back when things change but to move into what He has for us next.
Luke 9:62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

We have a calling in this life and a task to do.  When we are committed to the Lord and He is our life then we move on with what He has for us to do.  He tells us here in Luke that being in Him we are to stay the race and to not look back. This was what He had said to Lot’s wife that she was not to live in the past and when she looked back to that life we know the consequences.  If in this time you are having to move into something new, I encourage you to do that with strength and courage in the Lord and not to look back and hold on.

This current set of experiences maybe exactly what the Lord will use to move you to a new and better place.

Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

This is a time to be surrendered to the Lord and let Him move you into place using what is happening in your life no matter how tough it may seem.  He is with you and knows what is going on.

When Jesus walked past Peter and told him to follow Him, Peter left His fishing boats (his life to that point) behind him and was all in.  I wonder how often Peter looked back at the fishing boats and that past life of his and wanted to be back there? I suspect less and less as He walked more with the Lord.
Or the time (Luke 9:59) where Jesus tells the man to follow Him and to leave the burying of his father.

This man was to move on in the Lord and sometimes that involves leaving behind some things that are hard to leave.

When we are told we are a new man and not the old man.  This again is a case of leaving behind the old and stepping into the new.

In each of these cases we are not to look back.  We have now put our hand to the plow, and we are to move forward.  Let’s not turn into the pillar of salt.

 

I encouraged by what Jesus says in

Matthew 18:3 and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
As a child we start again like new not like the old man in the past. As a child we are fresh and willing to receive what he has for us and where we are now stepping.

A child doesn’t have a past to look back into and this is one of the things Jesus is telling us in this verse. When we walk with Him we don’t look back.

Don’t hold onto things

Matthew 19:21-22 Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

Looking back means we are holding onto things of the past. In this verse this was a young man being talked to and the Lord knew that in this man’s heart that by holding onto these things this man wasn’t free to walk in the Lord in Kingdom position. He wanted this man to move forward as a new man and to not look into the past and he couldn’t do that unless this hold on his heart was broken.

This doesn’t mean that you can’t hold onto things, it is about the heart position that you have with the Kingdom.  The Lord knows our heart and He knows when you need to let things go and not look back.

The outcome of not looking back

Luke 18:28-30 Then Peter said, “See, we have left all and followed You.” 29 So He said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or parents or brothers or wife or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, 30 “who shall not receive many times more in this present time, and in the age to come eternal life.”

We are told here that when we let go of the things that have restricted our relationship with the Lord that we will receive more.  We look to the things He gives us in the Kingdom now and not back at the things in the past that had out heart positioned in something other than Him.

In these times be encouraged when the Lord is moving you to a different place or away from your past.  He can only think of good things for you and He knows what needs to change in your heart and life, what has to be left behind and what He has for your future.

God is good always no matter how things may look to you right now. I can look back at many times in my life and in what seemed like very difficult times the Lord was there. He used those times to bring me to a better position in Him and the Kingdom.

 

His words as I finish

 

“I wish to bless people no matter the circumstances and blessings are not always easy as good bread comes from tough kneading, so sometimes I use circumstances to bring out the best in my children and they end up pleased with where they end up. Be encouraged and move forward in courage for now is the season of my blessings.”