The Old Things Pass Away
“Jesus said to him, ‘No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God’” (Luke 9:62 [ESV]).
Once we make that choice to follow the Messiah, to live for God and shed our old ways, we are not to look back upon our former life.
To plow straight, you must have your eyes forward, otherwise you’ve got a mess on your hands.
Letting go of the past is easy when you realize God transforms the way you live. You won’t be fit for sticking around old haunts, old friends (within reason, depending on shared values), and continuing in the same actions.
You don’t have to throw every last thing away, willy-nilly, as keeping pleasant memories is healthy.
But our hold on old habits must be broken, our inner selves refined, and our overarching goal in life must be to serve others as best as we are able to.
Everyone (unless they were fortunate enough to have faithful parents from their time of birth) has a personal Egypt they must let go of to get to their own personal promised land.
The pattern repeats throughout the Bible. The Israelites were enslaved, only to be delivered by the mighty hand of the Father later.
They may have been exiled, only to return to the land once more.
Freedom comes from trusting God to fulfill His will for your life.
And His plan is always going to be better than anything we come up with on our own.
Many times, like old wineskins and new wine, you’re not the person you used to be, meaning you will be unequally yoked to those from your past.
It is better to move forward, knowing God will provide for your every need—even adding friends and circles of people to propel your growth rather than stunting it.
Old relationships die, flames burn out, and it doesn’t mean you’re on fire any less.
It just means the temperature has increased, and those old things won’t survive the newer heat.
When we come to Christ, He burns away all the impurities and old ways of walking.
There are times you must face the past, as when Jacob met with Esau many decades later down the road.
But that isn’t always the case, and it is best to move forward.
God might take those other people down a path that won’t be the right fit for yours, and vice versa for you.
Coming to grips with this is easy when you understand the biblical pattern of leaving Egypt for freedom in the promised land.
Some people are stuck and think their high school years are their best years, when the Bible says the latter years of a person’s life are far more successful than the former.
Hold on to the memories you want to, but if you think your best days are behind you, that’s an issue that must be dealt with.
The best is yet to come—it hasn’t been already.
Step into the role God would have you fill as you keep your eyes forward, and that field to be plowed will become a resplendent garden.
