Look Ahead and Win the Race. Look Back and Break Your Nose!

They were stride for stride as they came down the last stretch of the third leg of the four by one hundred meter relay. Waiting for them were the final runners poised to take the batons and sprint to the finish. These last runners are in, what they call, the anchor-leg position and are usually the fastest members of the team. They're there because they have the ability to make up for lost time and hopefully catch up if they're behind coming into the last leg of the race. As the third-leg runners approached, the anchors began running with one hand stretched behind them, ready to grab a hold of the baton as the previous runner placed it in his hand.  One anchor had his eyes fixed ahead and ran quickly and smoothly down the track and the passing of the baton was flawless.  The second anchor continued to look backwards and lost focus of the track ahead.  He was concentrating so intently on the runner behind him that as the baton was placed in his hand his feet became entangled and he crashed face first onto the track.  The first runner won the race and the second broke his nose.  I want to be like the first.  How about you?

There are a number of places in the Word of God that remind us to keep our eyes fixed ahead and I want to share them with you today.  

Jesus told his followers, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."

He was telling them (and us) that when we turn to him and begin our walk with him it is not fruitful or beneficial to be looking back. On a practical note, as we drive forward down the road it is usually more important to look out of the windshield that into the rearview mirror.  I don't know about you but I have a hard time moving ahead at times.  I am constantly reminded of my failures and of my past hurts. They have a way of crippling me so that I miss the blessings that God has for me today.  I also think that Satan wants to keep us caught up in our old lives to prevent us from serving God in the new life he gives us when we are born again of the Spirit by faith in Jesus Christ.

In Paul's letter to the Philippian church he shared a similar thought:

". . . I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  Brother, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.  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."

I'm thankful that Paul was humble enough to let me know that he hadn't had it all figured out then, but that he was smart enough to know that the answer lied ahead and not behind.  He also gives me hope in knowing that at the end of this race waits a prize for me in heaven, one that the Bible tells us is better than we can imagine.

One quick story that I want to share before I let you get back to the busyness of your day:

A few years ago a few friends and I were fly fishing a stretch of river in Wyoming just outside of Yellowstone National Park.  The river was running through a deep and quite steep walled canyon.  We were about a thousand feet below the rim of the canyon and the trail from the shore of the river up to the top was narrow, rock strewn, and a bit dangerous.  The first few hundred feet required us to crawl on our hands and feet and there were sections that, if we slipped, our trip home wouldn't be in coach but in the cargo hold, confined to a pine box.  I found out quite quickly that looking back was a bad thing.  A few things happened when I took my eyes of the path in front of me and turned my gaze back down the slope.  First, I realized how high I was and it gave me the willies (is that still a word?). Second, it messed with my balance and I felt myself tipping backwards and that gave me the willies too!  Lastly, it slowed me down.  A lot!  My buddy Bob (who is likely reading this post) was standing at the top already relaxing with a cold beverage long before my feet reached the safety of the canyon rim.  I don't think Bob looked back once.  Good plan for the next trip.

So, in order to not beat a dead horse, I want to leave you with this advise. Heed the words of Jesus and of Paul and keep looking ahead in your walk with the Lord.  My eight-year-old son just looked over my shoulder and asked me what I was writing about and I told him, "About looking ahead and not back."  He said, "Like those people who were running away from the cities God was going to destroy and Lot's wife looked back and became a pillar of salt?"  "Yep!"  I love it how God puts an exclamation mark at the end of the sentence.  I don't think becoming a pillar of salt sounds like much fun.  So let's not fall back into the canyon, break our noses on the track, or become pillars of salt, but instead, let's run the race to win.

Peace in Christ,

David