Harvest Daily with Greg Laurie - Feb. 9, 2006

Thursday, February 9, 2006

 

Don’t Look Back

 

But Jesus told him, “Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.” —Luke 9:62

 

I find it interesting how we can look at the past through rose-colored glasses.  Remember the children of Israel?  They had been delivered from the tyranny and bondage of Egypt, where they had been slaves for years.  They cried out to God for deliverance, and the Lord answered their prayers through a man named Moses.

 

As they were making their way through the wilderness, God supernaturally fed them with an incredible substance called manna.  It was like bread from heaven.  They had it daily for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  But after awhile, they got a little tired of it.  They said, “We are sick of manna.  We remember the good old days back in Egypt, where we used to eat garlic, leeks and onions.  [Their breath must have really stunk, by the way.]  Those were the good old days… If we could only go back.”

 

They spoke of the good old days, but they basically ate table scraps in Egypt, because they were slaves.  Their lives were miserable.  Yet in their imaginations, they had magnified these scraps to some sumptuous feast they had each and every day.  They were not looking at the past accurately.

 

In the same way, the devil may remind you of the old days: “Remember the good old days?  Remember the fun you used to have?  Remember that old flame?  If only you could reignite that.”  And suddenly you begin to think about it.

 

Don’t build up the past in your mind.  Remember it for what it was.  Don’t allow the enemy to pull you down by fantasizing about it.  Protect your mind, and don’t look back.

 

Copyright © 2006 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.

 

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996.  Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189.  All rights reserved.

 

More by Greg Laurie: http://www.harvest.org/devotional/index.php/5.html