You can't move forward looking in your rearview mirror.

One of my favorite Bible verses is found in Philippians 3: 13-14 in which Paul writes, "one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." He understood that he could not accomplish the tasks God had for him if he spent his time focusing on the past events of his life. This is a lesson for each of us and our churches."

Zig Ziglar used to say, "Yesterday ended last night. Today is a brand new day and it's yours." There is no one who would not like to be able to change things about our past, but the truth is we can't. We cannot undo past mistakes. We cannot change past hurts. They are part of our lives, but they do not have to control our present opportunities, and they do not have to dictate our futures.

As I mentioned in this blog last week, as a denominational leader I worked with many churches that had painful events take place in their past. Pastors had failed them. Church controllers had abused them. Some had wandered for years with no sense of vision for ministry.

In other churches, they had enjoyed a great ministry in the past but had seen things change dramatically in recent years. One pastor served a church that was once one of the leading churches in the community with a sanctuary that seated over 600 people. Now, they were lucky to have 50 people worshiping on Sundays. Many in their congregation grieved over their loss and could not see a positive future.

I think of the families with whom I've served as a pastor who had such wonderful hopes for the future but were stuck in painful memories of broken dreams due to affairs, children who made poor choices, and other setbacks. They could see no hope of a better future as all they could see was the mistakes of the past.

Again, I wrote last week that our present circumstances do not define us unless we allow them to do so. Certainly, they can affect us, but if we respond to them properly all they can do is to determine where we begin as we move forward into a better future.

The apostle Paul had made mistakes in his past, but he refused to allow those mistakes to keep him from achieving what he knew to be God's plans for his future. Refusing to focus on the past he was determined to keep his eyes on the goals set before him. This should be the mindset of every church and every believer. We can only more forward by keeping our focus on the future, not the past. We cannot move forward by looking in the rearview mirrors of our lives.