There is something uniquely different about God’s children. We rarely look back either to reminisce or painfully evaluate past failures. We are a forward-looking people, a true anomaly in the modern world. This is something fallen humanity would love to experience all the time. However, if they are honest, they spend a great deal of their time looking back. They look back not only to evaluate past failures or reminisce but to do something far more damaging. Their obsession of always looking back, further than current events, enters into a deep chasm of captivity. Clearly, this abyss of one’s personal journey is not the same thing as the concrete historical events etched into the annuals of a nation’s heritage. It is, on the other hand, a collection of beliefs about oneself that they have adopted over time, which they believe can never change. It is a collection of past events that they believe have had an incurable effect on their physical or psychological wellbeing. As we shall see, these people tend to get trapped in the past causing them unending turmoil, which adversely affects their lives.

Their continued obsession with the past, especially the hurts, real or unreal, magnifies their pain exponentially allowing new powerful emotions to arise. With no warning, these emotions can bring forth disturbing thoughts of hate, revenge, and harboring thoughts of un-forgiveness. As these thoughts are played out again and again it can open Pandora’s box of every psychological problem known to man, thoughts that can also lead to hurting others or even hurting oneself. This obsession of always looking back well beyond current events can lead fallen humanity to even find fault with a Nation’s heritage or its recorded history following the same path of hate, revenge, and un-forgiveness. This is especially true if they are obsessed with the pain, real or unreal, magnified by public opinion or a few bad actors in our day. Either way, the psychological pain is real, which is causing people to strike back at one another with a ferociousness not seen before. It’s causing an unimaginable chaos in the streets of the world as they seek to rewrite history as if that would even make a difference.

As a nation of people, we need to learn how to look forward and stop our obsession with the past. Unfortunately, our fallen nature makes this very difficult, if not impossible, for most. Fallen humanity’s obsession with the past is helped in no small measure by Social Media, News media, and public education. The Good News is we have been given a proven way out of this bondage. When we believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ, He will give us a clean slate. That is, every bad thought, every obsession, and every sin ever committed against a Holy God will be forgiven. The slate will be wiped clean by the precious blood of Jesus Christ who took our place on the Cross. All the sins of the whole world past, present, and future were placed upon Jesus, the Son of God who died in our place and then buried in a tomb. On the third day, Christ rose from the dead to give us a new life, a clean slate. The Bible says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (II Corinthians 5:17).

We are forward-looking because we have a new life, with a clean slate. Sin no longer has power over us. Why look back on a sin that’s already forgiven? Why look back on an old life that is passing away and no longer has any power over us? Why look back on an old hurt that will no longer affect us? Why look back on an old psychological or emotional struggle that held us in its death grips for so long? No, the Bible says that old things pass away, that they no longer have any hold over us. Praise God! So, the key is, to look forward to our new life in Christ, then you will see the power given to you to shut the door to the old life. You will have power to say no to the old life with its many lies and beliefs that keep pulling you down to the cesspool experienced by fallen humanity, who struggle daily with their many emotional and psychological problems. Do you want that power to forget those past struggles and only look forward to your new life in Christ, then keep reading because it’s only God’s truth that will set you free?

The good news is that you will not need to do this alone. Jesus Christ promised to send us the Helper and that’s exactly what He will do. He will help you to put off the old life just like you would put off an old, soiled outfit. Step by step the indwelling Spirit will remind you not to look back or to dwell on a previous hurt by another person, an organization, or the government. He will teach you the power of forgiveness that will set you free from those who have wronged you or fed you lies for so many years. He will set you free from the many years of self-condemnation by learning how to forgive yourself. He will set you free from your past, believing that you can now become everything in Christ, with no limitations. The power of forgiveness will break the chains of slavery allowing you to always look forward, to be a forward-looking person. No longer being trapped in the past by learning how to forgive and forget is only the first step that must be taken concurrently with putting on the new life in Christ, by looking forward. We look forward to putting on our new life in Christ.

Now that we are free from our old life and no longer feel compelled to constantly look back at a life that no longer exists, then we want to fill up our life with the things of God. As we walk in each of His beautiful commandments, we begin to realize just how different they are from the fallen world. The Bible says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD” (Isiah 55:8). The more we put on our new life in Christ, the more we realize that there is a great struggle between the powers of darkness and the ways of God. Satan, our old adversary, seeks to control the entire human race by constantly filling their minds with the things of the world. He wants us so busy and our mind so occupied, that we have no time for God and our new life in Christ. We don’t have to look very far to see how he is doing this through the internet, social media, 24-hour news media, and entertainment on demand. When we come to Christ, then we no longer fill our minds with the things of the world, but with heavenly things so that we can participate in the divine nature (See II Peter 1:4).

Those who try to walk in the world and the Kingdom at the same time won’t need to worry much about the wiles of the devil. On the other hand, if you desire to only walk in the Kingdom then there will be an all-out war. The devil will bring to your memory, again and again, those who have wronged you. Satan is the author of every conspiracy theory having you chase one rabbit after another. He will do everything in his power to cause you to dream endlessly about a brighter future filled with riches, by utilizing the things of the world. Our spiritual weapons are mighty for pulling down strongholds, so let us cast down every vain imagination, every false teaching, every lewd entertainment, every social media post that doesn’t glorify God, and everything else that consumes our time to make us a pawn of the powers of darkness. Let us cast down everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. Then let us bring every thought from this point forward into the obedience of Christ (See II Corinthians 10:4-5). Let us think our thoughts after Christ as we press onto the goal – facing forward and never looking back. Let me leave you with the words of Jesus Christ. The Bible says, “And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62).

Please join me in prayer …

Good morning Heavenly Father. Oh Lord, we need clarity of thought. We need to recall those Scripture texts that you want us to dwell upon, that would be useful in understanding the day in which we live. Help us, Oh Lord to ignore the distractions caused by others or by our occasional pains and keep our mind focused on you. We completely die to self and ask the indwelling Spirit to take full reign of our lives. We truly desire to become all that you want us to be in this life and in the life to come, in our Heavenly position with you for all eternity. We pray that you continue the transformation process by helping us to fully put off the old life and put on the new life in Christ. There is no greater joy than being filled with your Spirit and thinking your thoughts after you, to truly realize the blessings of what we were originally created to be, and to walk with our Creator. We pray that you help us to complete our tasks for today for which you have called us. We pray this in the glorious Name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Reading from the King James Version, the Bible says,

“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (II Corinthians 10:5).

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