The Rear View Mirror

During Men's Group several weeks ago , we were praying for each other. As the group prayed for me, one of the men saw a picture of the side mirror on my car. The mirror, however, was blackened out. You could not see what was behind and it was a "good" picture.

A picture is worth a thousand words. In one brief snap shot, the Lord made clear that "yesterday" was not important. He did not want me looking backwards--what was past. Instead, the present was where He is. As He said to Moses from the Burning Bush, "Tell them, I AM sent you."

I have taken great comfort in that picture. Don't look back. When I blow it on any given day, I often take the guilt or the shame of that mistake into the next day and start off trying to work out the problem before moving on. The guilt and the shame are viewed from "the rear view mirror". Instead, we are faithfully given a new start each day.

Lamentations 3:22-23 says, "It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. KJV"

Philippians 3:13-14 says, "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

The Israelites in the Wilderness stumbled when they looked back to the how wonderful Egypt and slavery were! Satan will try to deceive us by having us gaze into the mirror of the past when Jesus is saying, "I AM!" No looking back. I have made the present for you. "Today is the day of salvation!" As that great old evangelistic song says, "No turning back....no turning back." Let us be forward looking men and women of God.

Blessings,
Father Scott +