As another year has closed, we need to look back and evaluate the previous year. In addition, we also need to make the year ahead a better one to the glory of God. We certainly should not linger on things past but to concentrate on the future. A good example of looking back to one’s own detriment is Lot’s wife. God had commanded that Lot’s family not look back upon the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah “But Lot’s wife looked back from behind him and she became a pillar of salt” (Genesis 19:26). When we disobey today, we will not become pillars of salt for looking back, but we will be punished for looking back to the enjoyment of past sins and continuing therein. Only repentance followed by righteous, faithful living can save us from punishment.
Jesus dealt with looking back as He said, “No man having put his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). Once you make the change to become a Christian, you and your life belong to the Lord. If not, your Christianity is a farce. Jesus taught in Matthew 6:24, “You cannot serve God and mammon” (that is riches, wealth and evil). You or I will serve one or the other.
We must always learn from our mistakes and change our ways where necessary to please God. We must look ahead because there is no future in looking back. Isaiah told the people of his time to cease to do evil and learn to do good (Isaiah 1:16-17). From this, we understand that looking back can bring us to the point of repeating our past mistakes, and we see that doing good is a learned behavior, not one that comes to us automatically. We must develop the traits of doing good.
In teaching the brethren at Thessalonica what a Christian must do, Paul instructed, “see that none render evil for evil to any man but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves and to all men” (1 Thessalonians 5:15). Follow that which is good. How do we determine what is “good”? Paul taught the Roman brethren this way. “…Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:1-2). In other words, “good” is what occurs when the actions and words of a faithful Christian give glory to God. All people understand the difference between good and evil behavior and can understand that good glorifies God and evil pleases Satan.
As we look forward to a new year, determine that you will live your life to the glory of God and not to please Satan. We all know that sin is evil behavior and understand that it destroys the souls of men. Paul instructed, “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18). To make sure you understand what God expects of His people, study His Word more and determine that you will dedicate your years in service to Him. Remember that it’s what we cannot see (eternity) that is important.
In this new year ahead, don’t be guilty of doing what the people of Jeremiah’s day did. God had commanded, “…Obey My voice and I will be your God and you will be My people; walk in all the ways that I have commanded you that it may be well with you. But they hearkened not nor inclined their ear but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their own heart and went backward and not forward” (Jeremiah 7:23-24). Don’t go backward into sin, but look forward toward Heaven!
