Walking Backward Through Life

Could you imagine walking backward for the next hour?  Bumping into walls, tripping over furniture and falling on your keester. You couldn't go very fast and if you did you would probably only accomplishing getting hurt worse.

Now imagine walking backward throughout your life.  Many people you see do it all the time.  They keep looking back at the times people have betrayed them and hurt them.  Their lives are filled with the injustices which have occurred in their lives.  They constantly look back and hate builds up more and more every day.

When I was a student in school, I was bullied.  I can still see the laughing faces of others who enjoyed watching me being hurt by another student.  For a time I wanted revenge.  I wanted to smash their faces in with my fist and never stop.  If I had kept looking to the past, I would have become a sullen and contemptible man that no one would have wanted to be around.  I would never have trusted people enough to become good friends.

Other people always look back at the glory days of their lives.  It is sad to find a fifty-year-old man who still talks about how great he was as a high school basketball player.  That was the highlight of his life and he is always looking back at the past for assurance that he is a worthy person.

When I accepted Christ as my savior, one of the first things God worked on was my anger.  I had to forgive those who had abused me in the past and pray for those who have hurt me.  I was shown by God that I should never look back at my past.  All was forgiven and I could not hold anything against them anymore.  Since I trusted Christ as my Savior, not only from my sins but also from my own destructive thoughts and ways, I have found peace.

God has a future for us all.  If we keep walking backward through life we can not see forward to the riches He has for us.  Why look to past hurts or glory when the future holds such blessings of peace, love, and fulfillment.  We have a future that is greater than anything we could ever imagine or desire.  Keep your eyes on the goal.  Do not look to the right, to the left, or behind you.  Look to your heavenly calling of greatness in Christ.

"Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil." Proverbs 4: 25-27

Photo credit: 5.20.2011 by Danielle Buma