Headlights—they come in varying degrees of brightness and hues these days. Whether they’re coming at you dead-on or glaring from the rear, some of the snazzy LEDS can straight up blind you! I find it rather annoying (a word I picked up from my kid’s repeated use during their teen years).
I think I’m still seeing spots from the radiation of the intense bluish-white laser that approached from behind the other night. “I’ll show him,” I muttered to absolutely no one. I reached up and simply gave my rear view mirror a flick. One flip brought instant relief. One flip and I quite easily changed the perspective of what I saw behind me.
If only it were that easy!
Or is it?
Do you ever catch yourself looking back? As in rehashing things in the past—things that are best left behind? I know I’ve got things back there that used to haunt me. Things I feared. Things I was ashamed of. Things left unresolved and unforgiven. The reflection in my rear-view mirror held addiction, abandonment, abuse—hurtful actions of others that left gaping wounds.
But God (two of the most merciful words ever penned) has safely brought me to a place of rest and peace and forgiveness. To wholeness and healing. Now, when I look in that rear view mirror, I look through eyes of faith and see deliverance.
Several Divine Agents have contributed to the transformation. One of which has been the teachings of the apostle Paul. Memorizing his words early-on provided me with just the sword I needed to slay those giants. Most especially, these words: “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Php 3:13b-14).
Yes, I know I am taking these words out of context—but, boy, they sure did arm me and give me strength to persevere! Because isn’t it all about pressing onward and upward?
Paul employs intense Greek verbage with his use of straining. It is used only here in all of his epistles. It conveys the extreme effort often required in working out our salvation. He also taught me that those very things I wrestled with have made me who I am today. And, in God’s good and trustworthy hands, they can be used for beautiful ministry.
I know this: I didn’t want to be blinded by what was behind—because that hindered me from looking ahead . . . moving forward.
I pose these three views of sitting in the driver's seat:
The view reflected in the rear view mirror of what lies behind can be seen as deliverance
The view from where you sit here and now can be viewed as redemption
And the view ahead contains what God has prepared and promised
All is grace!
So, sisters, let’s not be blinded by what’s coming at us . . . or what lurks behind. Rather, allow God's Word and His Spirit teach us to flip to a perspective of faith and press onward.