Don't Look Back
A powerful teaching from God's Word which I have learned is that in order for me to go forward in my Christian walk, I must not look back. I recall how Lot, his wife, and two daughters were rescued from Sodom and Gomorrah by two angels just before God rained down his wrath and utterly destroyed it by brimstone and fire from heaven. Lot had gone to the home of his sons in law and warned them that they and their wives needed to leave Sodom. He told them the LORD was going to destroy the city, but 'he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.' Lot must have felt miserable being unable to persuade them to leave the city.
The family is warned to 'Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.' The area had been home to all of them for some time, and surely Lot's wife felt remorse leaving so much behind. She took one last look behind her, at the place she had called home, where she had raised her family. She was reluctant to leave the iniquity, the mess which Sodom and Gomorrah represented, because it was so familiar to her. The scripture says 'But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.' That one look back cost her everything.
(Genesis, Ch 19: 1 - 28)
Notice that the scripture says Lot's wife was behind him, so he did not observe her mistake, or realize she had been turned into a pillar of salt. What did he think, and how did he feel, when he finally discovered she was no longer with him and their two daughters? Her disobedience caused Lot to become a widower, and their daughters to have no living mother. Thoughtless actions cause serious consequences for others as well as to ones self when we are outside the will of God.
Occasionally we are like Lot's wife; we look back into the past. Nothing there can be changed. In Paul's letter to the Philippians he writes '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.'
(Philippians, Ch 3, verse 13 & 14)
Paul understood nothing could be gained by looking at past accomplishments or failures; it was important each day for him to do his utmost to press forward toward Christ Jesus. He was encouraging the faithful followers to press forward. You and I have exactly the same mandate from our Heavenly Father today. Scripture says 'For I am the LORD, I change not;' God's Word is as current now as the day it was written.
(Malachi Ch 3 verse 6a)
Let us all put the past behind us. Those wonderful accomplishments, all those proud moments, and the miserable mistakes are over. Repent of all sin. We know 'If we confess our sins, he is faithful to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.'
(1 John Ch 1:9)
We can be made brand new, clean, spotless, acceptable unto God, and we will not look back on anything of our old life! Be encouraged when you read God's Word which says 'Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.'
II Corinthians Ch 5:17
By: Vilma Arias, Sonoma Christian Church
