Looking Back

Isaiah 43:18-19 (ESV) –

“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”

I’m a big fan of counselling and therapy. Perhaps it’s because I’m the world’s biggest external processor but I’ve found it hugely helpful having someone else to support me in working through some of my unhelpful thought patterns and behaviours. Counselling can often involve looking back at your life to try and understand how and why these patterns have appeared. Sometimes we have to work through our past in order to be free of it.

When God says, “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old”, he’s not saying our past doesn’t matter but he’s encouraging us to leave it behind. When we become Christians, we become new creations, the old has gone and the new has arrived. We are no longer defined by our past or where we’ve come from or what’s happened to us. We are defined by our future, our final destination and what Jesus has done for us. It’s important to work through the past but it’s more important to focus our minds and our hearts on our future. Jesus is our eternal destination and that’s where we should be looking. 

Are there any areas of your life where you feel the pull of the past? Old habits you can’t kick? Recurring thought patterns you keep falling into? Or just areas where you don’t feel much like a new creation? Let’s commit this year to working through our past so that we can be free of it and fixing our hearts and minds on Jesus, our final destination.

Prayer – Father, thank you that because of Jesus, I am no longer defined by my past but by my future. Please help me to fix my eyes on you.