Christian Living

ALWAYS LOOK WHERE YOU ARE GOING

by Charles (Chuck) Robey
06/13/17
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"Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you.
 Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways.  Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil. (Proverbs 4:25-27)

There's a new secular dance craze in town. It's called "Backing Up." The participants simply form a line and gyrate backwards to the tune of the music. I guess these participants are more willing to see where they have been, rather than see where they are headed. Not so for the Christian mindset. Christians should always preferably be looking ahead, rather than behind.

In other words, as the title or our blog indicates, we should be more careful in our daily Christian walk, and not give in, surrender or concede to Satan's evil plots. (Ephesians 6:11-12) 

In (Philippians 3:14) we Christians see that we should not dwell on our past, but on our future. Oftentimes, we tend to dwell on our past blessings we have received in Christ, rather than the riches yet to come in Him, those all-important jewels to be given us by God's Holy Spirit.  In other words, we should be marching forward in Him, and not be backing up without Him. Thus, this is a visionary, fictitious blog, "Always Look Where You Are Going."  

Have you ever had trouble sleeping? Or when you did finally fall asleep, did your subconscious mind play strange tricks on you through your weird dreamland? Well, I suppose that is what happened to me recently. Either that or it was simply the aftereffects of my late evening meal that failed to agree with my tummy. Anyway, here's the recap of this latest adventure.

I was out for my customary evening walk when I suddenly found myself walking down a lonely stretch of road. Suddenly, without warning, I happened upon a crowd of people walking by. There were many adults, men and women, as well as children of all ages. What was so strange about these folks was that they were all walking backwards. And as they walked past, I noticed the strangest expressions on their faces. They weren't happy campers.

Then, out of nowhere, came what appeared to be the leader of the group. When this gentlemen came directly into my line of sight, he gestured to me to come follow the group.  And it was as if I was being drawn by a super magnet, that I had no other choice but to obey his command. So I instantly I found myself turning around and joining the crowd, by walking backwards.

However, it wasn't long till the strangest thing happened. I started stumbling and found myself flat on my back. I immediately got up, hoping no one had seen me fall. So I started my backward walk again. And again, and again, I continued stumbling and falling.  It was then that the leader of the group stopped his walk and came back to me.

"What's wrong, can you not keep up with the crowd?" he shouted out, in an urgent tone of voice.

"Well, yes", I replied, feeling a little dismayed at this point. "But not like this. Not going backwards. People just don't do that sort of thing. Not in their right mind anyway."

Seeing my facial expression, he kind of eased up on me. "OK, I think you get it the gist of my illustration here," he responded.

Then focusing on the "backing up" aspect of our conversation, he really let me have it. Wow, did he ever preach to me! But I guess I had it coming.

"You see, we were all created in the image and likeness of God. (Genesis 2:26-27) God could have made us with eyes in the back of our heads, or a combination of eyes in the back and front. But that was not the intent of our creation. We were all created with eyes to face the direction in which we are going, eyes to see and react to our surroundings and not to concentrate on where we have been.

God's reasoning for this principle is that we were made as free moral agents. (Joshua 24:15) (John 1:12; 6:67) We were made to choose right from wrong, to choose good or evil. In other words, always looking to where we are going, and not in the direction where we came from.

Going against God's principles, similar to the uncustomary walking backwards, will always carry us away from God.  If we focus on that which is ungodly, impure, and evil, the negative dark sinful paths, we will always end up going away from God. That is walking backwards, if you will."

He continued, "You see our backward walk is like not looking ahead and stumbling over the stones or the wiles of the Devil, which are the works of the flesh. (Galatians 5:19-22). Whereas walking upright, and looking ahead in our walk with Christ realizes the "Fruit of the Spirit." (Galatians 5:22-23)

"Your walk in the right direction is essential in the Christian walk of life.  So, it is imperative that you always look where you are going, and not look in the direction that you may accidentally stumble back into."

"OK, I get it," I replied. "If I turn around and walk forward and walk upright by the Spirit, I will not carry out the desires of the flesh. (Galatians 5:16)  And by walking straight ahead, and not backward, I will also look ahead, walking upright in the Spirit." (Galatians 5:25) 

"Amen, you got it," he responded. "Is it not like your pastor's sermon last Sunday?" he continued. This is kind of weird.  How did he know about my pastor's sermon, I wondered.

It was just about that time, I apparently awoke from my sleep, or my visionary, mind-boggling adventure, whatever the case may be.

And lying open on my bedside table was Mom's old Bible. You guessed it. It was not only open to this blog's introductory scripture passage of Proverbs, but the Scripture passage was also highlighted in red.

"Mom, Mom, are you up there? Can you hear me? Thanks ever so much, for your help. From now on, I will surely walk the straight and narrow path. And yes, I am ready and I will see you again up there in glory land some day. Amen!"

PLEASE VISIT MY WEB PAGE    http://ccrobey.wixsite.com/themessage

Author's Postscript

Always fix your eyes on Christ. Always walk in the direction you are looking. As in the end you will tend not to go where you say you'll go, but you will go where you looked.

And as Christians, we all have a heavenly calling and a heavenly destination, as our citizenship is not of this earth, but of heaven. So, let us look to that higher calling. In other words, walk upright, (Ephesians 4:1; 5:2) looking ahead, not stumbling backwards and looking back. (Ephesians 4:22)  We will always end up where we want to go, when we look where we are going.

Remember, walking backwards, and looking back, is not the proper calling of a Christian life. Only dwell on walking straight ahead, and walking upright before the Lord. (Philippians 3:13-14: 4:8)

Do You Know Where You're Going To? (Mariah Carey)

Do you know where you're going to?
Do you like the things that life is showing you?
Where are you going to, do you know?
Do you get what you're hoping for?
When you look behind you there's no open door.
What are you hoping for, do you know?

Once we were standing still in time,
Chasing the fantasies that filled our minds.
And you knew how I loved you but my spirit was free,
Laughing at the questions that you once asked of me.
Do you know where you're going to?
Do you like the things that life is showing you?
Where are you going to, do you know?

Now looking back at all we planned,
We let so many dreams just slip through our hands.
Why must we wait so long before we see
How sad the answers to those questions can be?

 (Songwriters: Gerry Goffin / Michael Masser- Do You Know Where You're Going To lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC)