Rear View Mirror

He will remove all of their sorrows, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. For the old world and its evils are gone forever. And the one sitting on the throne said, "Look, I am making all things new!" And then he said to me, "Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true." Rev. 21:4-5(NLT)

Any good driver will tell you that you can not drive a car while looking in the rear view mirror. Focusing on what you just past is not going to help you arrive alive at your destination which still lies ahead on the journey. A good runner will tell you that the number one rule of running is to stay focused on the finish line and to not look back at the starting line. While you are in competition with other runners it is not a good idea to be looking over your shoulder to who is behind you but rather to look ahead to where the goal line is. Football players will tell you it is not a good idea to be looking at the defenders when trying to catch a pass from the quarterback. If they do not stay focused on receiving the pass they are sure to drop it.

So it is with our walk with the Lord. As we travel on this road called life, there will be many trials and tribulations we will encounter. There will be opposition to our trip. Road blocks will arise and detours will be created in order to slow our progress toward our destination. Many have traveled this road before us, taking the journey from earth to heaven. With such a large crowd of people who have given their lives while they were moving closer to heaven, let us keep focused on the REWARDS of the future and not the REGRETS of the past. Looking back at past hurts and past mistakes is like driving a car while looking in the rear view mirror. Even focusing on past accomplishments could hurt your forward progress as well. Many like to live in the glory moments of the past, forgetting that their journey is not completed, the trip is not over and there are many more adventures awaiting up ahead.

Past successes as well as past failures are just that PAST. They are rear view mirror objects, reflections of what our lives used to be. Therefore let us strive to keep focused straight ahead not looking to the left or the right nor behind us as we run the race with patience.