Don't Look Back!

Pastor Eduardo sermon:

Don’t Look Back

My track coach in Army had many words of advice both on and off the track. He used to say: “Run as fast as you can, and whatever you do, don’t look back.”

The Bible also calls for us not to look back.

In our text, Jesus said, “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:62

• Looking back hinders forward progress.

• Looking back may be making you depressed.

• Looking back to the past may be bringing you defeat in the present, thus paralyzing you from action to affect your future.

The title of my message today is very simple: “Don’t Look Back.”

• Looking back hinders forward progress.DON’T LOOK BACK AT SINS THAT HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN. Psalm 103: 11For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;

12  as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. 

I wonder if you believe this for others, but not for yourself. If you’ve been saved by trusting in Christ as your Savior, then God has put away ALL your sin, even your most serious ones! If our transgressions are as far as the east is from the west (that is, a distance of infinity), that means God doesn’t look back on our sins after He has forgiven them. 

• Looking back may be making you depressed.DON’T LOOK BACK AT DEFEATS THAT DISCOURAGE YOU. All people have some defeats in their past as a Christian. The old saw about skeletons in people’s closets has the ring of truth to it. Only those who never attempt anything are free from failing. Don’t allow failing to make you feel you’re a failure. Paul said, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” (Philippians 4:13)

• Looking back to the past may be bringing you. DON’T LOOK BACK AT THE PAST AND SEE IT BETTER THAN IT WAS. If you rehearse old conflicts, the hurt returns again and again and again. When we rehash old conflicts, it reopens old wounds. Even those memories where forgiveness has taken place will become dangerous again if you keep revisiting themThe preacher in Ecclesiastes says this about the past: “Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this.” (Ecclesiastes 7:10).

Well, 2019 has come and gone, and here we are in a new year. As you look back on last year, and the years before that, be careful: Don’t look back at sins that have been forgiven.