Pastor Buddy’s Blog

Don’t waste time on what might have been…

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Journal,

Isn’t it odd how we sometimes look back on our life and wonder what direction our life would have taken had we made a different choice than the one that we made at a certain time. (Hope that makes sense.) Well, the problem with that kind of thinking is that it achieves absolutely nothing. It simply goes with the saying, ‘No one can walk backwards into the future.’

Life only has one direction it can travel. We are always moving towards the future. But we can only live in the now. The land of ‘what might have been, is a land of imagination with no substance or reality. No one knows what ‘might have been’ regardless of what took place in the past.  

From cast down to uplifted…

Last evening I was looking at our 1995 picture album for the members of Christian Challenge. (13 years ago.) We had thirty-seven family units. As I looked at the pictures, it began to dawn on me that over a half of the family units were no longer with us. What a cast down cheerless thought.

I thought about each family. There had been some deaths, some relocations, some went into the ministry, while others had simply changed churches. The good side of all this is that all the peoples are still serving the Lord, regardless of where they life has taken them.

Then I began to think, ‘What about now?’ 

With that in mind I took a look at our present member’s album. What an unlifting story. We had increased from thirty-seven family units to sixty-seven family units, an overall thirty families had been added to the flock. What a difference the ‘now’ took. While I appreciate everyone who has been a part of Christian Challenge, I have to leave each of their lives in the hands of the Lord. I can simply rejoice in our ‘now’ forward movement.

My thoughts changed from cast down to completly uplifted. The moral of the story is to leave the past alone. No one can relive the past. The only life we can live is the life we are now living.

We are instructed in the Bible not to draw on the past…

… or to project ourselves into the future. Both these things can become hinderances to the spiritual life of a child of God. They are both imaginary air castles. A true walk of faith is always about the ‘now.’ Salvation is present tense. It is never about the past or the future.

Paul quotes the prophet Isaiah,

“‘At the acceptable time I listened to you, and on the day of salvation I helped you.said,’ behold, now is ‘the acceptable time,’ behold, now is ‘the day of salvation.’” 2Co6:2 nasb

There are a number of Scriptures that tell us not to dwell on the past or not to look back on what might have been. Here is a sampling:

Ecc 7:10 - “Do not say, ‘Why is it that the former days were better than these?’ For it is not from wisdom that you ask about this.”

Luk 9:62 - “But Jesus said to him, ‘No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.’”

Isa 43:18,19 - “Do not call to mind the former things, or ponder things of the past. Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.”

Gen 19:26 - “But his wife, from behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.”

Have you learned to trust in Jesus, through it all…

Jesus isn’t simply our yesterday Savior. He is our Savior of yesterday, of today, and for all eternity. He is our forever, right now Shepherd. This is why I love to hear Andrae Crouch sing this song entitled, ”Through It All.’ 

Listen to Andrae’s testimony about this song.

Well, that’s it for today.

Blessings,

Buddy