Don't Look Back

We all have something in our lives that we would be better off without. Alcohol, gambling, overeating, idolatry, lust, an abusive relationship, you name it. Why do we keep going back to the very things that are destroying us?

What is it in your life that you would be better off without? That one thing that, if you lost it, your life would be so much better.

Do you remember the Old Testament story of Sodom and Gomorrah? Things go so bad in those towns that God decided to destroy them. There was one man though - Lot was his name. When Lot was hesitating to leave the city one of the angels said to him . . .

“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

That is the place we have to get to with our addictions and desires. We have to arrive at the point where we give them up and do not look back. Lot's wife looked back and thought about what she was leaving behind. It cost her everything - her life. She is our example of what NOT to do.

"But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt." - Genesis 19:26

God wants us to leave our past behind us and follow Him. Never look back, never think about what might have been. Only look ahead and dream about what is yet to come.

Burn The Ships - For King and Country (the meaning)

Time

The overarching theme from this past weekend seemed to be time. From days gone by to dreams and hope for the future. It all began Friday, experiencing tastes of past present and future. All at the same time.

My wife spent the day watching our granddaughter Emma. What better representation of hope for the future than a young child being held by her grandmother.

While my wife was doing that I was at a home show as part of a ministry group I'm in, offering "wholeness and hope for the future."

Saturday my wife and I traveled to Milwaukee to celebrate her dad's 91st birthday. All three of his daughters were there. Grandchildren were present as well. Then, while we were eating, an older grey-haired man kept walking by our table wearing a Pink Floyd tee shirt - probably a fan since his teens. Another representation of "time."

Then my wife and I met with a former pastor of mine to discuss future plans for a present ministry. Past, present and future all sitting at a table together.

Then, before we went to bed Saturday night, my wife and I set all of the clocks ahead an hour - a daylight savings time thing. It's more of a sleep deprivation thing if you ask me. Man thinking he can control time. Pfft.

Sunday morning my wife and I woke up, deprived of 60-minutes of our sleep. And why? Does it really matter? Then, as I dressed, I looked out the window. Our apple tree was shaking. Why? Because there was a partridge sitting in it, looking back at me.

My wife said, "I've never, ever seen that before and probably never will see it again. Yet another indicator of time.

We humans act like we are masters of time, yet we never seem to have enough of it. As I get ready to retire in three weeks the general perception is that I will have time to do whatever I want, but the vast majority of retirees say they are so busy they wonder how they ever got things done before they retired.

There is only one master of time and that is God. Time means nothing to Him.

"But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day." - 2 Peter 3:8

As we watch the news tonight we might find ourselves thinking about the past and how much better things were back then. We might also wonder about the future. Is there any hope in the future if the news of today is a representation of the present? Scary. Yet there IS hope.

There is tremendous hope for those who have placed their faith and trust in Jesus. God has promised that by doing that one thing we may have eternal life. Time will no longer matter to us. And if that is the case, and God cannot lie, then sign me up. Oh, wait. I already made my reservations. Have you?

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." - John 3:16

The future begins right now! Grab hold of it.

"The tolling of the iron bell, calls the faithful to their knees." - Pink Floyd

Time - Pink Floyd