Monday, September 22, 2008

Don't Look Back

Have you ever been told, "don't look back". It is like Lot's wife, she looked back and turned into a pillar of salt. (Gen. 19 v 26) There is something about those words, that we as humans, think we have to see why? Why do I need not to look back? What is out there? It is the same with our lives, once we become a born again child of God, we need to let the past go, don't keep looking back over how we used to be, what we used to do, how we used to talk, who we used to know and hang out with. We are a new creature in Christ. (2 Cor. 5 v 17) We do not need those things of the past that we thought we had to have before.

It is like when we sold our property and moved into our 5th wheel. I miss my gardens terribly sometimes, and I miss all that land that we had to explore. I miss finding something new every time we walked to the back of the property, like a new tree, or flower, or piece of petrified wood. But most of all I miss all of the wild life and the dairy cows, and the horses, and my chickens. You see in the beginning of spring, you could sit on the back porch and watch as the new calves, and new ponies frolicked up and down the road in the pasture next door. You would see the bluebirds building their nests, and my favorite the new baby chicks. I loved my chickens! But what I loved most was the new birth all around me. New buds on trees and flowers poking through the ground. It always reminded me of when you become a child of God, and you decide to give your life to Christ, you have a new birth. Everything is new, your sins are washed by Christ's blood and forgotten by God. So why do we look back?

When God leads us in new directions, why do we question Him? Because we are having to give up something we want in order to follow Him. We have to die to ourselves and live for Him. Missionaries do this every day of their life. Some of them are constantly moving from place to place, having to learn new languages, new ways of living, new food. Now that is one. Most of us could not make it as a missionary simply because we are so picky about what food we eat. Something so simple as changing our diet could be stopping us from responding to God's call on our lives. Has God called you to be a missionary? If so, when you walk away, don't look back. Don't get out there and continually think about what you had but open your eyes wide and see with God's heart what you have.

Now, I know we are not all of us in some foreign country working as a missionary, but sometimes just going to work each day is a mission trip for some of us. The language we have to listen to at work from co-workers, and the lost people we are surrounded by, can be just as challenging as being in a foreign country for a Christian sometimes. So here are some words to carry us through each day and to keep looking forward and not back.

PS 143 v 8........"Let me hear Your lovingkindness in the morning, for I trust in You; teach me the way in which I should walk; for to You I lift up my soul."........

Let every day of your life be as if on a mission trip for God. Treat everyone with loving kindness, and with the love of God. Most of the time you will not even have to open your mouth to carry out these orders from God, your actions will speak volumes for you. AMEN!

Neta

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