The other day I decided to clean out our basement. I came across a box of painting supplies. As I looked through the brushes, scrapers and rollers, I began to recall the life I had when I was a house painter. When Karen and I were the senior pastors of a church we planted in Idaho, people in our congregation who knew I had painted in the past would tell me, “You should go around town and paint people’s houses who can’t do it for themselves!” Their focus became more fixed on my former profession than on my new life as a pastor. They meant well, thinking that my past work would serve the community better than my new work. I did help many people paint, but one day the Lord said, “No one is getting set free by your painting. I called you to preach and to teach and to counsel people for Me!” So, I gave away all my equipment and quit referring to myself as a former painter. I now focused on the new path the Lord had us on.
The side mirrors on your car have the words, “Things in the mirror are closer than they appear.” This is so true of our past as well– following so closely behind us, just waiting for us to return to the old ways, instead of following our new ways. Jeremiah 29:11, Passion Translation: Here’s what Yahweh [the Lord] says to you: “I know all about the marvelous destiny I have in store for you, a future planned out in detail. My intention is not to harm you but to surround you with peace and prosperity and to give you a beautiful future, glistening with hope.”
When I was a younger Christian and life got hard, there was my old friend, my past life, standing with open arms, calling me back, and gladly accepted its comfort! I drank to get drunk to forget my problems. One day, I was recounting my “good old glory days” to a group of truckers, and I cussed so bad they told me I offended them! That got my attention! I realized they weren’t the good old days, just old days! Why was I so easily persuaded to go back? I decided then, “I’m not going back anymore.”
1 Kings 19:19-21 tells the story of Elisha, a man called by God to a new life, to be His prophet. Elisha was a farmer with oxen and a plow. So right there, right then, Elisha decided, “I am going to follow the new life God is giving me. There is no turning back and I am going to make sure to remove all temptation of going back to my old life.” How did he do this? He had a BBQ! He slaughtered the oxen, chopped up his plow, and used the wood to have a huge BBQ with his family and friends! He burned everything of his past life that could tempt him back to it, and headed down the road to his new life, plowing hard rocky hearts to bring a harvest for God! Never looking back!
Maybe you’ve been trying to return to your old life that wasn’t good for you but it’s not working anymore. Maybe you’re like the fishermen in Matthew 5:4-7. They fished all night without any luck. Then Jesus provided a catch so huge that their boats began to sink. They couldn’t deny the miracle so when Jesus said, “Follow Me,” they did! After three years walking with Him, what did they do as soon as Jesus was crucified? John 21:1-13: They thought, “We’re no longer evangelists, healers, and deliverers! Let’s go back to our old lives and fish.” Again, a night without a single fish. Again, Jesus provided a huge miraculous catch! When they got to Jesus on the shore, He was already cooking fish on a fire, but He told Peter to go get a few of the fish he had just caught. Why? Jesus had Peter bring Him their “old way of life” and burned it up in front of them, because they were never to return to it again!