December 29th, 2021
Last week, we talked about the importance of keeping our focus on Jesus, as we run our race with the endurance (Heb. 12:1). I know running is the last thing on most of our minds, with Christmas only a few days ago and New Year’s Day coming up. We’re all still getting through leftovers and using the holidays as an excuse to eat five rounds of dessert (Come on people, I know that’s not just me). However, I do want to talk about this idea of running with endurance a bit more this week, as we look forward to 2022, so stay with me!
We already talked about the fact that we have to keep our gaze on Jesus as we run, to keep from stumbling. Another key that we see in Scripture is the importance of not looking behind us. We can’t be looking back and looking at Jesus at the same time. We see a picture of this principle in the story of Lot’s wife found in Genesis 19. Lot lived in the wicked city of Sodom. He was a righteous man, but was dwelling in a place so full of sin and depravity that God destroyed it. Before He did though, He gave Lot and his family the opportunity to be saved. The angel who came for them said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain” (Gen. 19:17). Most of us will know the rest of the story. Lot’s wife did not heed that command, turned around for one last look at the wickedness she left behind, and she turned to a pillar of salt (Gen. 19:26). This is a principle that applies to us, as well. Especially if we’re freshly removed from the life we were living in, it’s so important to keep our focus forward and not look back at what we left behind. Turning around will bring only destruction!
This isn’t just for new believers, though. Regardless of what stage of life you’re in or how long you’ve been walking with God, there will always be temptation to live in the past, whether it’s good or bad. When the future seems uncertain, human tendency is to just stay put, even if it’s a place of bondage. The children of Israel lived in cruel slavery in Egypt, but when God liberated them at the hand of Moses and they came into the desert, destined for the promised land, they complained. They cried out to go back to poverty, slavery, and suffering, because it was all they’d ever known. Our fleshly tendency will always be to live in what’s familiar, even if it’s bondage, rather than face what seems uncertain. However, as believers, we don’t live in our flesh and our future is not uncertain, even when it feels that way. We can be more certain of His promises than we are of the sun rising!
Isaiah 43:18-19 says,
“Remember not the former things,
nor consider the things of old.
Behold, I am doing a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”
It’s important not only to guard where our eyes look, but where our minds dwell. We cannot focus on old things when God is trying to do something new! Paul wrote to the Corinthians along these lines saying,
“But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 3:13-14)
Realistically, we know that our memories are not erased when we start walking with God. There will be things from the past we can choose to think on. When you’re saved though, God empowers you to live as though the past never happened. Your spirit, which was once dead, is made alive and you’re born again. You literally become a new creation. This is how the Holy Spirit could tell us through Isaiah and Paul to “Remember not the former things” and “Forget what lies behind.” By the power of His Spirit, as a new creation, you can live with such a focus on what lies ahead, it’s as if you have no memory of what lies behind. That old life wasn’t you! “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corin. 5:17).
This truth is absolutely key to running our race with endurance, and it applies to looking behind us at good things or bad things. There is also temptation to long for the good things God has done in the past, but this will also keep you from moving forward. This can be as destructive as looking back at Egypt! Regardless of what is behind you, you can’t run forward looking backward! Proverbs 4:18 says,
“But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn,
which shines brighter and brighter until full day.”
Nothing in your past can be better than what God has for you in the future. He promises that we go from glory to glory (2 Corin. 3:18)! One of my favorite things my pastor says is that “your future is as bright as all the promises of God.” There is so much hope in our future, but there is never hope looking behind us, even if it’s comforting. Today, I want to encourage you to set your heart and your mind fully forward, on Jesus and on the future. As we look forward to 2022, let’s keep our hearts on the one who makes all things new! Let it not be just any other new year, but one where we determine in our hearts to leave behind everything that would hold us back and run with Him into every one of His good promises!
We already talked about the fact that we have to keep our gaze on Jesus as we run, to keep from stumbling. Another key that we see in Scripture is the importance of not looking behind us. We can’t be looking back and looking at Jesus at the same time. We see a picture of this principle in the story of Lot’s wife found in Genesis 19. Lot lived in the wicked city of Sodom. He was a righteous man, but was dwelling in a place so full of sin and depravity that God destroyed it. Before He did though, He gave Lot and his family the opportunity to be saved. The angel who came for them said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain” (Gen. 19:17). Most of us will know the rest of the story. Lot’s wife did not heed that command, turned around for one last look at the wickedness she left behind, and she turned to a pillar of salt (Gen. 19:26). This is a principle that applies to us, as well. Especially if we’re freshly removed from the life we were living in, it’s so important to keep our focus forward and not look back at what we left behind. Turning around will bring only destruction!
This isn’t just for new believers, though. Regardless of what stage of life you’re in or how long you’ve been walking with God, there will always be temptation to live in the past, whether it’s good or bad. When the future seems uncertain, human tendency is to just stay put, even if it’s a place of bondage. The children of Israel lived in cruel slavery in Egypt, but when God liberated them at the hand of Moses and they came into the desert, destined for the promised land, they complained. They cried out to go back to poverty, slavery, and suffering, because it was all they’d ever known. Our fleshly tendency will always be to live in what’s familiar, even if it’s bondage, rather than face what seems uncertain. However, as believers, we don’t live in our flesh and our future is not uncertain, even when it feels that way. We can be more certain of His promises than we are of the sun rising!
Isaiah 43:18-19 says,
“Remember not the former things,
nor consider the things of old.
Behold, I am doing a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”
It’s important not only to guard where our eyes look, but where our minds dwell. We cannot focus on old things when God is trying to do something new! Paul wrote to the Corinthians along these lines saying,
“But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 3:13-14)
Realistically, we know that our memories are not erased when we start walking with God. There will be things from the past we can choose to think on. When you’re saved though, God empowers you to live as though the past never happened. Your spirit, which was once dead, is made alive and you’re born again. You literally become a new creation. This is how the Holy Spirit could tell us through Isaiah and Paul to “Remember not the former things” and “Forget what lies behind.” By the power of His Spirit, as a new creation, you can live with such a focus on what lies ahead, it’s as if you have no memory of what lies behind. That old life wasn’t you! “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corin. 5:17).
This truth is absolutely key to running our race with endurance, and it applies to looking behind us at good things or bad things. There is also temptation to long for the good things God has done in the past, but this will also keep you from moving forward. This can be as destructive as looking back at Egypt! Regardless of what is behind you, you can’t run forward looking backward! Proverbs 4:18 says,
“But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn,
which shines brighter and brighter until full day.”
Nothing in your past can be better than what God has for you in the future. He promises that we go from glory to glory (2 Corin. 3:18)! One of my favorite things my pastor says is that “your future is as bright as all the promises of God.” There is so much hope in our future, but there is never hope looking behind us, even if it’s comforting. Today, I want to encourage you to set your heart and your mind fully forward, on Jesus and on the future. As we look forward to 2022, let’s keep our hearts on the one who makes all things new! Let it not be just any other new year, but one where we determine in our hearts to leave behind everything that would hold us back and run with Him into every one of His good promises!
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