“Beware of paying attention or going back to what you once were, when God wants you to be something that you have never been.” Oswald Chambers
I recently celebrated a birthday. No, it wasn’t a milestone, but getting close to another milestone as the years go by. To use a sports analogy, I am in the fourth quarter and the clock winding down and out of time outs. Having retired from full time employment at the end of 2022, it has been a weird year for me the last 14 months. The Lord is good and has opened new opportunities for me, this ministry website being one. But at times it is hard to adjust my mind and body to something completely different from what I’ve done for 45 years.
The devotional I read on the morning of my birthday was Oswald Chambers entitled ‘What’s Next to Do?’ It contained these words, “Beware of paying attention or going back to what you once were, when God wants you to be something that you have never been.” It got me thinking the way I was feeling over the past year was probably natural due to the duration of my employment. And it also got me to realize it was where God wanted me to be for those years, but that time has ended and the game isn’t over, there’s one quarter to go.
Just as God’s will for me included a 45-year career in retailing, He has His will for set me in these milestone years for something that I have never done. Looking over my shoulder at what once was is being disobedient to God who has a new call on my life. The same is true for each one of you no matter what stage of life you are in. When it’s time for God to move you out from where you have been, don’t look back, but look forward to where God wants you to be, and become something you have never been.
“No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” Philippians 3:13-14 NLT
Word for the Soul 