ENVISION
Someone once said that you are either going forward, standing still, or falling behind. The question that I want to pose to each of us is this:
Are we going forward, standing still, or falling behind? What was God’s intention when He created humanity? To answer that, take a look at someone’s head. Where are their eyes located? On the top of their head? No! What about the back of their head? Again, no! God put our eyes in front so we will always look ahead and move forward. In the year 2016, God wants us to do just that: to keep Looking Forward and Moving Forward. Let’s look at a portion of scripture for this. “Let your eyes look straight ahead. Fix your gaze directly before you.” (Proverbs 4:25) This verse, penned by the great King Solomon, places a double emphasis on moving forward. Yet, the reality is that some people like to look backwards. Scripture warns us of the perils of doing so. In Genesis 19:26, while fleeing from Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot’s wife looked back at the doomed cities and was turned into a pillar of salt.
“It doesn’t matter what the economy looks like or how a situation seems to be playing out. The reality is that we have no choice but to move forward because that’s what we have been created to do.” Some of us like to look back and relish in past glories. However, God does not want us to look back to the point where we are living in the past. The Bible tells us to, “Forget the former things; do not dwell in the past” (Isaiah 43:18). Some of us look back because there is a sense of security in the past; looking forward means facing uncertainty. By doing so, we will
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be caught in a time capsule of yesteryear. It is dangerous because this time capsule will prohibit us from moving forward. Some of us prefer to stand still. Why? The thought of going forward is paralyzing. There is fear of all the challenges that tomorrow brings. There is the fear based on past hurts. Some of us look at the current state of the world and are fearful because of the uncertainties of the future. Some of us stand still because of a sense of apathy; we don’t feel the need to move forward in our walk with God. However, Solomon exhorts us to look ahead and gaze directly before us, looking forward and moving forward. With God, we can step into a greater tomorrow. It doesn’t matter what the economy looks like or how a situation seems to be playing out. The reality is that we have no choice but to move forward because that’s what we have been created to do.