Pros and Cons of Looking Back

I recently was doing my morning Bible readings and was in the passage about Sodom and Gomorrah and Lot and his family living there. I read the passage where the angels grab Lot, his wife, and two daughters and get them out of the city. They were told not to look back but Lot's wife did and was turned into a pillar of salt.

It got me thinking about the good and bad of looking back. Sometimes, we look back fondly. We look and remember old memories, old special times with loved ones or from childhood. There's nothing wrong with that. I actually think sitting with your spouse and talking about times when you were dating or when you first got married can spark and ignite new passions! Memories are dear to us. They tug at our heart strings and always hold a special place within us.

Sometimes looking back can help us to evaluate where we need to make changes or make different decisions than those made in the past. In other words, this looking back evaluation can help us to learn from mistakes.

Sometimes looking back, especially if done too much or too often, can keep us stuck. Who hasn't known someone who is stuck in the past? We all know people who like to re-live the glory days of a particular sport they were involved in while they re-tell the same old stories over and over. Some people never move past an old relationship and this keeps them from ever allowing themselves to fully love again. Some people are stuck in another decade (but hey, if they wait it out, it will eventually come around again right?!). Their clothes, hairstyle and home decor is maybe from the 70s, 80s or 90s. What? the 90s was really 15-20 years ago! wow! Time sure flies! Have you ever been stuck looking back? I think we all have had times where we are guilty of that. I know I have been. I have looked at different times in ministry life and even before full time ministry and wondered if God would ever allow things to be that good and blessed again. Sometimes I get discouraged looking forward and feel like the good days are over and it is just a hanging on til Jesus returns. Guilty! But then I get a kick in the pants sometimes from myself (hard to do but I've done it!) and sometimes that kick comes from someone else -- from the words they say or remind me of. Sometimes the kick comes straight from God....from reading His Word or from the man of God He has chosen to preach to me. Whatever the kick, it jolts me back to reality and keeps my eyes forward and up! I reckon, I occasionally need to re-read my post about being future sighted!

I must daily remember that as long as I have breath, I have opportunity for giving glory to God and doing for Him. I need my looking back to be fondly, to be an evaluation of past things that work and do not work and to actually stay in the past and to press forward!