Luke 9:62 But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."
Some time ago, I wrote a devotional about not worrying for tomorrow because tomorrow holds its own worries. But it occurred to me recently, that just about as often as we worry for tomorrow, we fret about yesterday. How many times do we find ourselves saying, "I wish things could be the way they were, I wish I was younger, I wish I could fit into those jeans again, I wish I didn't make that terrible mistake ... you fill in the blank"?
The Lord doesn't want us constantly looking back at what once was. Our enemy does -- he wants us to feel discouraged and helpless and ruminate over and over on what we can never change. Sure, if we need to repent or make something right, we ought to go ahead and do it. But God doesn't want us drowning in self-pity or regret about past mistakes, or hopelessly longing for what can never be again . He wants us to look ahead. He wants us to say, "Forget what was -- the future is where my destiny lies and I will meet the Lord there in His purposes for me." That's faith. And it's well based in everything Yeshua (Jesus) has done for us, promised us, and called us to.
So, let's stop looking back in fear or bondage to the past -- it's long gone already. Let's move ahead and press toward the new things that the Lord has for us in our lives. Our God is always making things new, and redeeming what was before.
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]As I write this devotional about planting seed, it's interesting since my name (George) means "farmer" or "worker of the earth".
Have you ever heard how a pearl is formed? It is truly fascinating. A foreign object, often a grain of sand, somehow makes it's way into the tightly sealed crack of an oyster. Instead of spitting out this irritating object, the oyster covers it with layer upon layer of a substance secreted from it's own body. After months or even years, a beautiful pearl is formed. The longer the pearl stays in the oyster, the more valuable it becomes.
President Franklin Roosevelt used to attend church in Washington. One day somebody phoned the church and asked, "Do you expect the President to be in church this Sunday?" The rector answered, "That I cannot promise. But we can expect God to be here, and we fancy that will be incentive enough for a reasonably large audience."
If you ever have the chance to visit Jerusalem, one place you must see is Solomon’s quarries – also known as Zedekiah’s cave.It’s a gigantic underground quarry beneath the old city of Jerusalem, an amazing archeological site which offers a glimpse of the handiwork of the builders of the first temple of King Solomon. Can you imagine, as the Temple was under construction, what the craftsmen and the builders must have been thinking about this glorious house they were building?
A large group of European pastors came to one of D. L. Moody's Northfield Bible Conferences in Massachusetts in the late 1800s. Following the European custom of the time, each guest put his shoes outside his room to be cleaned by the hall servants overnight. But of course this was America and there were no hall servants.
As I traveled across the U.S., I occasionally came across individuals who didn’t believe that Israel and the Jewish people were relevant to God’s redemptive plan. Amazed, I would show them this passage in Jeremiah foretelling how God would make a ‘New Covenant’ with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah!
Ever wonder what someone who's never seen the modern world thinks of us approaching a wall, pressing a few buttons and out comes lot's of money? Cash machines -- they're everywhere -- and if you've got cash in your account, you can just go and make a withdrawal!