Don't Look Back, You're Not Going That Way

It would be the strangest thing to see a group of people running or walking down the street backward. You would think you were in the twilight zone where the world has been flipped upside down and everything is opposite. Just imagine that you are driving in a car and you stopped at an intersection and you see various people doing their day-to-day activities backward as though it was normal. You see someone running backward to catch a bus, someone trying to walk their dog backward, and even someone jogging their full exercise route backward. Not only is it strange but it is dangerous for the person going backward and a distraction to others that try to exist with them. While I am guilty of jogging backward on hills to strengthen my calves, glutes, and rear leg muscles, I am not talking about going backward to build muscle or endurance, but desiring to live a life based on the securities from the “what-used-to-be” nostalgia of the past.

From time to time, we reminisce on our past to relive happy memories, laugh over old funny stories with family and friends, and learn from our mistakes. We relive the moment, feel the nostalgia, heal and move on. However, some people get stuck living in nostalgia and they battle between learning from the past and living in the past, and while they try to live in the present they always search for something they can never get back. Living this way is dangerous because it determines the life or death of the dreams and promises that live in your future. This reminds me of the story of Lot’s wife in the Bible, a figure mentioned in Genesis 19, who turned into a pillar of salt when she decided to look back after God had rescued her from her past. 

"15 With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, 'Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished... 24 Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah - from the Lord out of the heavens. 25 Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities - and also the vegetation in the land. 26 But Lot's wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt." Genesis 19:15, 24-26

God moved Lot and his family from turmoil into a place of promise, provision, and prosperity. However, because Lot’s wife chose to look back and focus on her past, God allowed her to stay in the past rather than allow her to destroy their future with her past mindset. Danish philosopher and theologian Soren Kierkegaard famously wrote, “Life can only be understood backward, but it must be lived forward.” The lessons that we learn from our past help us to understand the meaning of our lives and the purpose of our future selves. We can’t follow God’s plan and focus on our past at the same time; you will trip, crash or fall every time. Either way, it will delay or detour the success of your future.

Where your mind goes, your eyes go, and your body will soon follow. The Amplified Bible says in Luke 9:62, “But Jesus said to him, ‘No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back [to the things left behind] is fit for the kingdom of God.’” Sometimes we glamorize our past and forget the struggles, the hurts, and the pains that it has caused us. We overemphasize the good memories and persuade ourselves to think that our past is better than the future God has destined us to have. The bible says in Ecclesiastes 7:10 NLT, “Don’t long for ‘the good old days.’ This is not wise.” It is not wise because it breeds discontentment with our current situation causing us to not fully enjoy the blessings that we have in our lives now. Marriages and relationships are destroyed when there is a lack of forgiveness from past hurts because we get stuck living in the “what was done to me.” And on the other hand, when we desire a person, a situation, or a thing from the past, it creates false expectations for someone currently in our lives that will never live up to our idea of “greatness” because of what we desire from your past. The bible says in Philippians 3:13-14, God’s Word Translation, “Brothers and sisters, I can't consider myself a winner yet. This is what I do: I don't look back, I lengthen my stride, and I run straight toward the goal to win the prize that God's heavenly call offers in Christ Jesus.” We can only walk into the fullness of God’s abundance if we leave the past behind.

As you run towards the best version of YOU, it may feel good every once in a while to stop, catch your breath, rest your muscles and reminisce about how far you’ve come and all you’ve been through. However, don’t get so comfortable that you lose momentum because you focused on what was behind you for so long that you allowed it to catch up with you. The destiny of your future is held in the lessons you learned from your past and how you use what you learn shows up in your present. Life is meant to be lived forward, which is why our eyes are in the front of our heads and not the back. So remember, don’t look back, you’re not going that way!