“Say not, ‘Why were the former days better than these?’
For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.” (Ecclesiastes 7:10)
THE GOOD OLD DAYS
Those days of yore
Cast in the lore
Of memories,
Picture-framed
In glass perfected,
Rose-colored
In time sight–
The captured past.
How “good” were the “good old days?”
We tend to reflect on those times with rose-colored glasses.
“You can’t go back home to your family, back home to your childhood. . . back home to the old forms and systems of things which once seemed everlasting but which are changing all the time–back home to the escapes of Time and Memory.” 1
But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. (Genesis 19:26) Remember Lot’s wife. (Luke 17:32)
The best days are ahead, not behind. The eternal home is before us. To enter, we must become a new creation. And not look back.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has passed away, behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
The “new has come.” Have we crossed the new threshold and entered, closing the old door securely behind us? Have we obtained the wisdom: “I haven’t come this far, to come this far.”
12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own. 13 Brethren, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12-14)
“I press on—” The goal is ahead. The Lord waits, patiently waits, for us to continue forward, persevering onward toward Him.
1Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider Him who endured from sinners such hostility against Himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. (Hebrews 12:1-4)
“Consider Him” when we grow weary, frustrated, or depressed. “Consider Him” when we feel we cannot go on and think of turning back. “Consider Him . . . seated at the right hand of the throne of God” and find the strength and hope to continue, “forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.”
LET US PRESS ON TOWARD THE WAITING ARMS OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR–AND TRULY ARRIVE HOME.
1 Wolfe, Thomas. You Can’t Go Home Again. www.goodreads.com/quotes
( Sharon G. Tate blog 03/01/2020) teacherforjesus.com Meditations on God’s Word