Don’t Look Back; Luke 9:62
Have you ever looked back on your life and thought – If I only knew then what I know now, I would have done a lot of things different? As I look back on my life I have a lot regrets, I done a lot of stupid things in my lifetime, and I made a lot of mistakes. I wish I could go back and change things, but I can’t, and maybe you feel the same way.
We have got to learn to let those things go and live for the Lord today. 2 Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” All regret does is waste the present. You can’t be useful to the Lord today if you’re feeling sorry about the past. God used our past to help us become the people we are today. He uses those past hurts, failures, and mistakes to strengthen us and to make us useful for today.
Harry Truman, “Men who live in the past remind me of a small wooden bird called the ‘Floogie Bird.’ Around the Floogie Bird’s neck is a label reading, ‘I fly backwards, I don’t care where I’m going. I just want to see where I’ve been.’”
Do you know why the past is called the past – because it’s past, it’s gone, you can’t live it today… But there are people that spend a lot of time looking back at their past; some with joy, some with regret. God doesn’t want us to live in the past, the past is past, we must live life today. If you want to truly experience the better life you’ve got to learn to live life today and take advantage of the opportunities you have today or tomorrow you’re going to regret today.
Let’s look at what the Bible has to say about the past:
1. Don’t Look Back On Past Sins
1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Psalms 103 says, “He casts our sins as far as the east is from the west.” And Isaiah 43:25 says, “He remembers them no more.”
But we can’t seem to forget our past sins. (Positive’s – remember from where God has brought us from - & negative’s – hinders our service, feel unworthy, the truth is we are unworthy to serve God but He is worthy to be served). Satan wants us to be overcome by our past. “How can God use me when I’ve been so sinful?”
Yes, some sins do keep us from certain aspects of the ministry. Yes, we were all at one time broken and useless to God, but He wants to mold us and make us useful once again. If we will surrender our lives to Him, like clay in the hands of the potter, He will mold us and make our lives into a beautiful vessel. Let Him have His way.
Don’t let your past sins hinder you from serving God. Hebrews 12:1-2, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.” (Video)
Our sins have been paid for by the precious blood of Christ and they are nailed to the cross.
Consider Charles Colson, the aide to Richard Nixon who was sent to jail for Watergate. As a result of his experience as a convicted felon, Colson founded Prison Fellowship, now the world’s largest Christian outreach to prisoners and their families. Prison Fellowship has more than 50,000 volunteers working in hundreds of prisons in 88 countries around the world. A ministry that has blessed millions of people got started about 30 years ago because Charles Colson committed a crime. God’s eternal purposes for that man included even the sin that sent him to prison. It was a part of God’s plan from the very beginning. (Use your past to help minister to others).
2. Don’t Look Back On Past Defeats
We all have had some past defeats. We have all failed. We have all tried to accomplish something only to fall short. And sometimes because of our past defeats we feel miserable, alone, and worthless. I mean we look around and we can see people that have accomplished great things and had great successes and we wonder, “Why I am such a failure and they are such a success?”
The truth is successful people have failed just as much if not more, but they get back up and try again. Unsuccessful people are the ones who refuse to get up and that’s when they are defeated.
The major league baseball player with the most strikeouts totaling 1316 is the same player that set a record for five consecutive strikeouts in a World Series game. His name is Babe Ruth, one of the greatest hitters in baseball history. If you step up to the plate in life – you’re going to strike out from time to time, but if you will keep stepping up to the plate eventually you’re going to hit a home run.
The great military leader Napoleon Bonaparte graduated 42nd in a class of 58 at military school.
In 1902, the poetry editor of Atlantic Monthly returned a stack of poems with this note, “Our magazine has no room for your vigorous verse.” The poet was Robert Frost.
In 1905, the University of Bern turned down a doctoral dissertation as “irrelevant and fanciful.” The writer of that paper was Albert Einstein.
In 1894 an English teacher noted on a teenager’s report card, “A conspicuous lack of success.” The student was Winston Churchill.
You see the most successful people in life have failed, but they kept trying. Zig Ziglar, “Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly until you learn to do it well.” George Patton, “Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom.”
(((Did you hear about the man who tried to run a symphony and did such a bad job they decided to electrocute him? But they couldn’t, he was such a poor conductor.)))
You may have some past defeats, but it doesn’t mean you’re defeated. You may have some past failures, but it doesn’t mean you’re a failure. If you’re a child of God you’re a success.
Psalm 37:23-24, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholds him with his hand.”
Consider Peter & Judas – both failed the Lord… Judas committed suicide, Peter returned to the Lord. Because of his preaching over 3000 souls were saved on the day of Pentecost. You can either let your past destroy you or you can stand up and try again.
(Mule stuck in a hole – shack it of and step up).
3. Don’t Look Back On Past Conflicts
We have a hard time forgetting our faults, but it’s even more difficult for us to forget the faults of others. We tend to hold grudges and become bitter over things that were done long ago. A countless # of relationships have been destroyed because people bring up past conflicts when they argue.
It’s like a dog that has a wound that won’t heal because he continues to chew on the festering scab. When we cannot forget the past it just builds up bitterness & resentment in our own lives and ultimately all we do is hurt ourselves.
Malachy McCourt, “Resentment is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die.” Maybe you’ve heard people say, “time heals all wounds.” No it doesn’t… The real truth is, time often makes things worse. Wounds that are left untended fester and spread throughout the entire body. Time only extends the pain if the problem is not dealt with.
1 Peter 2:1-2, “Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation:”
Lay aside the past, and press forward. Have you ever heard the term, “Forgive and forget.” If you want to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ you have to, “Forgive and forget.”
But it’s so hard for us to forget. Could you imagine the impact on the first century church if the early believers didn’t forgive Paul for all he to do with the death of Stephen and the persecution of others. Paul was one of the greatest missionaries that ever lived but he wouldn’t have been very effective in the ministry if he wasn’t forgiven not only by Christ but by the early church.
Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross, was reminded one day of a vicious deed that someone had done to her years before. But she acted as if she had never even heard of the incident. “Don’t you remember it?” her friend asked. “No,” came Barton’s reply, “I distinctly remember forgetting it.”
If someone has hurt you, or wronged you, or taken advantage of you, forgive them, and forget it. How do you forget it? You have to purposefully choose to forget.
Remember Isaiah 43:25, “I am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.” We have got to learn to forgive and forget.
4. Don’t Look Back On Your Past as Being “Glorious”
Have you ever heard people speak about the good old days… I walked ten miles to school every day, no shoes on my feet, and 10 inches of snow on the ground, in the middle of the summer.
Those were the good old days. Ecclesiastes 7:10, “Do not say, ‘Why were the old days better than these?’ For it is not wise to ask such questions.” When we look back sometimes we have a tendency to see things as better than they actually were.
The children of Israel are a perfect example. When they were being led by God through the wilderness (They had beed set free from the Egyptians, brought through the RED SEA on dry ground, God purified water from as bitter stream for them to drink, sent manna down from heaven on a daily basis, and even caused birds to fall to the ground so they could have meat).
– And they looked back on Egypt – Numbers 11:18, “Surely we were better off in Egypt!” (Slaves, beaten, they had to work long days in the Egyptian heat, BUT IT WAS A DRY HEAT)
We have a tendency to see the past as being better than what it was… The good old days really weren’t all that good. We forget about all the hardships: (The depression, no air conditioning, out houses, no running water).
Back in the days before electricity, a tightfisted old farmer was taking his hired man to task for carrying a lighted lantern when he went to call on his best girl.
“Why,” he exclaimed, “when I went a-courtin’ I never carried one of them things. I always went in the dark.” “Yes,” the hired man said, “and look what you got!”
Don’t get me wrong I know there were some good things, and there are some things in the present we can surely do without, but I wouldn’t want to go back to the past.
Warren Wiersbe said, “Do not say, Why were the former days better than these? You do not move ahead by constantly looking in a rear view mirror. The past is a rudder to guide you, not an anchor to drag you. We must learn from the past but not live in the past.”
5. Don’t Look Back On Past Victories
Have you ever looked back on your life and thought, “Man I used to be young, cool, in good shape, had hair.” This to shall pass.
Galatians 5:7, “You did run well,” That speaks of past victories, & present failure… That word did is past tense, it’s no longer true today.
There are a lot of middle aged men who think an offal lot about their past victories. If all you have to live on is you’re past victories you’re going to be miserable, because past victories also speak of present failure.
Philippians 3:13-14, “I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Conclusion: We need to look to Jesus – Hebrews 12:1-2, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.”
Thanks to other contributors
