IT’S ALRIGHT TO LOOK BACK

During the course of life, we learn that progress is synonymous with forward movement. When we go from being a youth to being an adult, part of the concept of growth is that we stop behaving in certain ways, and adopt new, more mature behaviors. That is why when people go through mid-life crises and start to exhibit extreme behavior that is very characteristic of their younger days, the admonishment that they usually receive is to stop trying to relive their youth. Or to stop trying to relive their past.

As Christians who are imperfect, with regards to sin, a sign of progress we learn from the Word of God is that one who is truly remorseful for their sin should come to Christ with a heart of contrition; confess their sin, and ask for forgiveness, and going forward, in addition to asking the Holy Spirit to guide us away from willful sin, we have to look forward to a renewed; spirit led life, and not behind us at the sin, because once we are forgiven for that sin, we are forgiven.

So for all the reasons why progress should only be associated with looking ahead, there is one very important occasion when looking back is a tremendous sign of progress.

For everyone who has been called into Christianity, God has most certainly done some major things in your life that got your attention and caused your spirit to identify with His and convince you of His existence.

Not only has He moved your spirit to acknowledge Him, but He has answered very specific prayers for you. He has performed feats in your life that you know had nothing to do with your ability, knowledge, power, influence, wealth, wisdom or anything. It was His hand moving on your behalf so that your faith in Him could be anchored. In addition, you have also heard the accounts of other Christians telling of the miraculous ways that the Lord moved in their lives.

Miraculous healing when a dire prognosis had been given; deliverance from the jaws of death after a bad car accident, illness or some other terrible event; financial restoration after a long and hard period of lack; a spouse or children when you had come to accept the possibility that it would never happen; a good job or the turnaround of a failing business after a long period of searching or struggling; the positive turnaround of a bad legal situation; the turnaround of a failing marriage; the restoration of a broken family the opening of doors of opportunity where none had previously existed. Or simply just the peace of Christ after a life filled with worry, anxiety, fear and uncertainty.

So if we all have evidence, an account, a testimony of when and how the Lord came through for us, stepped in for us, moved on our behalf, why is it that whenever a new challenge; a new trial; some new tribulation or dilemma presents itself in our paths that we despair? Why do we doubt God? Why does our faith waiver?

Why do we suddenly act as if we don’t know who to turn to?

Why do we forget?

It is at these times that we have to look back and call to remembrance the specific things that God has done in our lives and in the lives of others that we have heard about.

It is at this time that we have to look back at the accounts that the Word of God explicitly tells us of in the Bible.

It is at these times that we have to look back on how we felt after we received our miracles in the past and call to mind the promises that we made that we made of how we would serve him going forward.

We have to look back and remember how God made a way when there was absolutely no way!

We have to look back and remember how he opened doors that had been previously shut before us.

We have to look back!

God performs these things in our lives and in the lives of others so that through them we have a point of contact that we can refer to and in so doing, anchor our faith.

We all have a testimony. When God moves miraculously in our lives, it is our responsibility to return the favor by opening out mouths and sharing with others what the Lord has done for us. What this does is sow a valuable seed of faith in the life of a believer who really needs it and it waters a seed of faith that is currently struggling in a parched soil of doubt and despair.

In John 4:28-30, 39,Jesus spoke with the Samaritan woman at the well, and based on that encounter, the bible tells us:

“The woman then left her water pot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” Then they went out of the city and came to Him. And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified”

As a Christian, our ultimate goal is salvation in Christ Jesus, and it is upon this salvation that we anchor our gaze. Forward. However, in-between the moment that we are called into Christianity, and the moment when we leave this earth, we will face unpleasant situations. We will be tried; we will be tested; we will undergo hardships and challenges. The next one may very well surpass the previous one. But if we are to grow in Christ, then, these trials are inevitable. They are in actuality a requirement. But because we are human and we feel every stitch of pain, fear, sadness, confusion, hopelessness and despair that we are faced with in those times, we have Jesus to call upon for strength, for guidance, for hope, for comfort, for courage; because the bible assures us that:

Only Jesus Christ can get us through the hardships of this life, and only He can help us not lose out crown of salvation in the process.

But after He does get us through, TESTIFY! SHARE YOUR STORY! ENCOURAGE SOMEONE WHO IS GOING THROUGH THEIR OWN TRIAL!

Because in so doing, you draw others unto Him, and if their hearts truly believe in Him, that same John 4 tells us that after the Samaritan woman’s testimony brought other Samaritans to Jesus, after they stayed with Him, “many more believed because of His own word.”

So, brethren, it is in this “looking back” that we make tremendous progress.

Don’t ever stop looking back, so that you don’t stop moving forward.

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. To the only God our Savior, Who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.

Share your thoughts that you might encourage your brethren.

In Christ

The handmaid at His feet.