Like Lot's wife, we are to never look back at where we came from after we have been born again. The unregenerate world however loves too wallow in the past, dredging up the muck of past errors and throwing them in you face. Their whole goal is to drag you back down into the mire of self doubt and keep you from looking towards your present and future relationship with God. Heck, some of our fellow Christians tend to do the same. They've never stopped looking back into their past thereby their past is everyone's past. If they cannot live in Him, no one can and they deny that it's possible for anyone to be released from the shame of the past or current sins. So much focus on where we have been places us back before we were born again and we feel guilt, despair and condemnation all over again.
We are to be set apart from the time we come into the truth of the Gospel of Christ. If you were drowning in a pool of mud, slowly sinking further and further, knowing that you'll die eventually, then someone comes along and says believe in me and I'll save you. If we understood our situation and the ultimate outcome, obviously we wouldn't deny the help. Once He helps us out, He then proceeds to wash us off and give us brand new clothes. Now we look just like Him, clean and wearing white. If we are then completely clean, why do we go and play in the mud again. Why would we sling mud at each other and play around the edge of the pit getting filthy all over again. Then every Sunday we look at our dirtiness and ask to be washed again. Christ's purpose is not to continually wash us clean. Once out of the pit and cleaned, our task is to stay clean and washed. Our focus is to be on Him not the pit. When others start to throw mud at you, walk further away. The further from the pit you get, the less likely you are to get mud on you.
Of course this process is to happen in your mind and heart. You can't receive the love of God in your heart if your mind is always looking into what it perceives as failure. We must get our minds in line with the truth of the Gospel. When we read Romans 8:1-4 1Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2For in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set you free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man, as an offering for sin. He thus condemned sin in the flesh, 4so that the righteous standard of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Do we believe, have faith, understand that we are no longer under the power of sin and flesh but are now under the power of the Spirit. We must grasp that in our minds so it can be established in our hearts. Until we get this basic concept of why Christ came and died, we will not be able to move forward in Him. We will forever be playing in the mud and slinging it onto others because we don't believe we are completely done with all that.
We read the Old Testament and see all the judgement upon their lives. We identify with that because we started life out that way, being judged for everything we do. When Christ came, He erased the Old Testament with His death and wrote a new law, Love. We cannot read the old and proclaim it ours if we've accepted Christ. Rather we should walk in the newness of Christ's love.
When the transformation from our old muddied life takes place, it happens inside, it's not something that is observable. It's not like we change physically. Wouldn't that be weird if when we came to Christ our faces changed to where not even we recognised it. Instead, it's a spiritual change. Our hearts change like Ebenezer Scrooge's did. Of course his transformation was overexaggerated to prove a point but it's accurate. If we find ourselves changed and beautiful, then why would we want to ruin it by trudging through our old ways and habits. We should run in fear of being dragged back under. We should sprint in the opposite direction and never look back.
We have everything going for us now. Those in the Old Testament were under the law which only proved they were full of sin. They were in continual condemnation and judgement. That has been lifted for us. We aren’t condemned or guilty of anything as long as we have faith in Christ. With the burden of guilt taken away we can move forward in our pursuit of Him through good works. Don't confuse the works. Trying to be saved through works like they did in the Old Testament doesn't work but after receiving redemption through Christ, we can now pursue good works because our foundation is in Christ and not ourselves.
Those that think they can pursue God by their own works stand on their own foundation which is under condemnation. It's like Christ says, you cannot build on sand that shifts and moves so easily. However, when we enter into Christ by His gift of redemption, we are placed on solid ground. This is when we can start to build and only then can we build.
Hopefully we can see this by now. We were once castaways, lost in a sea of despair but now we have been given a home, a place to live and grow, to build and prosper. We've been rescued from certain death and placed in a fertile land. The question is, will we build the house and sow the field like we should be doing; or, will we continue to see ourselves as castaways treading water with a life-preserver? Never look back, always look ahead to who you are and where your going in Him. Use His gift to the fullest!
To God be the Glory!
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