DON’T ALLOW YOUR PAST FAILURES TO BECOME PART OF YOUR FUTURE

BIBLE PASSAGE:
But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. 
(Genesis 19:26)

MEDITATION:
The beauty of the Bible is, God speaks to us from beginning to end.
Even as far back as Genesis, God is speaking to each of us today.

When God was preparing to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, as a result of the 
decadent sin that was prevalent in those cities, He planned to wait until 
the righteous man (Lot) and his family were safely away from the destruction.
By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. Then 
the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from 
the LORD out of the heavens. Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire 
plain, destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation 
in the land. (Genesis 19:23-25)

Two angels had been sent to Lot with instructions 
to take his family and ‘flee the city’, and to ‘not look back’.
As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, 
“Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere 
in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!” 
(Genesis 19:17)

It may have been curiosity, but we don’t know exactly why Lot’s wife 
looked back, however we do know that she disobeyed God’s instructions.
How does that incident speak to us today?
I may be wrong, but I believe that God is telling us 
to keep looking forward to how we are being transformed, 
and not back to the life we lived before we asked God to save us.

In his letter to the Philippian church, after the Lord saved and 
transformed him, Paul said his goal was to separate himself from his past.
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my 
goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold 
of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken 
hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining 
toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for 
which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12-14)

When we pause to think about it, 
we can understand why we should avoid looking back.
Whenever we ‘look back’ 
we give Satan an opportunity to have an effect on our lives.

When we recall the sins of our past, 
he can re-ignite those sinful desires in us.
He can arouse us to the point that we vividly remember
our previous sins and start reliving them again in our minds.

He can also use our remembrance of past sins to discourage us 
and render us ineffective in pointing others toward our Savior.
When we ‘look back’ and recall our life before we received God’s 
salvation, it can cause us to feel so worthless of receiving God’s 
grace, that we become vulnerable to repeating the sins of our past.

The truth is, we are all unworthy of receiving salvation from the Lord,
but when we repent, He forgives us of our sins and gives us 
the ability to start forgetting them as we ‘press on’.
But Satan looks for every opportunity to smother us with discouragement.

Sometimes he wants to convince us that if we don’t ‘feel’ saved,
then we have not received God’s salvation.
Feelings may or may not lead to our salvation, 
but they are not the requirements of being saved.

Love is a feeling; joy is a feeling; inner peace is a feeling; 
love for others is a feeling; concern for the lost is a feeling; 
guilt is a feeling; being lost is a feeling, etc.
Even though feelings may be a result of being saved, salvation itself 
is not based on a feeling, but a decision and commitment to change, to go 
in a different direction, and to surrender to the Lord’s control of our lives.
When we do that, we can be flooded with new feelings 
of joy and peace that we have never experienced before. 

ACTION:
Have you spent time recalling your life before you were saved?
Learn from God’s communication to mankind through the Bible and 
stop ‘looking back’, but instead ‘press on’ toward God’s goal for you.
Don’t give Satan a chance to get a foothold 
and discourage you from moving forward toward righteousness.

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, forgive me if I have been allowing my mind 
to recall, and maybe even relive, the sins of my past. Help me in 
my efforts to press on toward righteous living and following Your 
Will for me and my life. Thank You for your gracious gift of 
salvation which has freed me from my past and separated me from 
the sinful life I lived before I met Your Son, Jesus. Remind me of 
my repentance and my commitment to give You control of my life. 
Teach me how to focus on Your plans for me, and to avoid looking 
back to the things which can discourage me and prevent me from
experiencing the joy of Your gift of salvation.”

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