Zachery Tims: Forget About the Past

Where you’re going in life is more important than where you’ve been.

When you’re driving a car, do you ever pay attention to how big the
windshield is compared to the rearview mirror? Why do you think the
rearview mirror is smaller? It’s because where you’re going is more
important than where you’ve been.

Destiny is not about the wrong decisions you have made in life; it’s
about getting back on track and moving in the direction God has
ordained.

Certainly we can all learn from the victories and mistakes we’ve made in
the past, but we should not spend all our time staring into the
“rearview mirror” of life. If we do, we’ll crash into whatever is just
ahead of us. We can take a glimpse every now and then to make sure
what’s in our past doesn’t creep up in our future, but we can’t park
there.

More than any other Bible writer in the New Testament, the apostle Paul
seemed to understand this point. He said: “I do not count myself to have
apprehended; but 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”
(Phil. 3:13-14).

In order to appreciate the full weight of Paul’s words, you have to
consider his background, conversion and commitment to proclaiming the
gospel to the gentiles. Paul was a success story in his day. He came
from the right family and studied under the Nobel laureates of his time.
He was president of his fraternity and a partner in one of the largest
law offices in the Middle East.

But that’s not all Paul was. He had accomplished great things, but he
had also done horrible, unspeakable things. He imprisoned, kidnapped,
bound and murdered men, women and children because of his ungodly,
legalistic religious beliefs.

And it wasn’t until he met Jesus face-to-face on the road to Damascus that he heard the voice of the one true God.

Paul knew he had to forget and leave behind his shameful actions against
the saints. He was forgiven by Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, and he
put them all behind him for the hope of accomplishing what God had set
before him.

Like Paul, you need to allow Jesus Christ to transform your life and
then look to the future. Check where you’re going and how fast you’re
heading there, and make sure the Holy Spirit is empowering you.

Every day, people come to my church with the same kinds of problems I
had as a teenager growing up in Baltimore—drug abuse, drug dealing and
promiscuity.

I tell them: “God doesn’t make mistakes. He has never given up on you.
He has a purpose and calling—a destiny—He seeded into you when you were
conceived in your mother’s womb, and He is still holding it for you
today. When God looks at you, He sees your destiny fulfilled, not dead.”

If you’ve wasted years of your life making bad decisions, you’ll have to
work overtime to regroup and get back on schedule, but that doesn’t
bother God. He is big enough to help you jump-start your life to fulfill
the plans He has for you.

It doesn’t matter if you are an unbeliever or a Christian living a
carnal lifestyle; God believes in you, and with His help, you can turn
your life around. God’s destiny is in you, buried as a seed in your
heart.

And since you know it’s there, you need to take the next step of
nurturing it and reaching for the prize of the high calling God has for
you in His Son, Christ Jesus!