Don't Look Back
There was a time when I played racquetball regularly. It’s a fast game that’s played with a hollow rubber ball and racquet in a fully enclosed court. One safety rule to this game is that you never look back because the ball comes off the back wall so fast that it can smack you in the face and cause significant injury. It’s wise to wear eyeguards even if you don’t look back. Racquetball is a forward-facing game no matter where you are on the court.
Life is a little bit like racquetball. To look back at your past mistakes and relive your failures will only cause damage. To dwell on the past can ruin your relationships, lower your self-esteem, and knock the confidence right out of you. To live in the “I wish I had done it different” or “Why did this happen?” will smack you in the face and cause you to have nothing but distress.
You cannot move forward if you’re looking backward. You cannot undo your past, but you can do something about your present and future. You can only play the ball that is in front of you, not a ball that’s in back of you. You have to do what the apostle Paul did: “One thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead” (Philippians 3:13). He was saying, “The most important thing that has helped me to be successful is to let go of the things that are behind me. I don’t look back. I don’t go back to my past mistakes and relive my failures.”
The Bible says that God will take what the enemy meant for evil in your past and turn it around and use it to your advantage. God has a plan for your past, but He can’t work in your past because He works in the now. If there’s anything from your past that’s keeping you from your dreams, call out to God and ask Him to help you move past it. David said, “In my distress I called upon the Lord…and my cry came before Him, even to His ears…. He brought me out into a broad place; He delivered me because He delighted in me” (Psalm 18:6, 19). He will bring you into a broad place because He delights in you!
So I encourage you to not allow your past to cause you injury today. Let the past be behind you. Don’t look back for someone to blame or ask why something happened to you. Reach forward to that broad place that is ahead of you. That’s where your success lies!
Life is a little bit like racquetball. To look back at your past mistakes and relive your failures will only cause damage. To dwell on the past can ruin your relationships, lower your self-esteem, and knock the confidence right out of you. To live in the “I wish I had done it different” or “Why did this happen?” will smack you in the face and cause you to have nothing but distress.
You cannot move forward if you’re looking backward. You cannot undo your past, but you can do something about your present and future. You can only play the ball that is in front of you, not a ball that’s in back of you. You have to do what the apostle Paul did: “One thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead” (Philippians 3:13). He was saying, “The most important thing that has helped me to be successful is to let go of the things that are behind me. I don’t look back. I don’t go back to my past mistakes and relive my failures.”
The Bible says that God will take what the enemy meant for evil in your past and turn it around and use it to your advantage. God has a plan for your past, but He can’t work in your past because He works in the now. If there’s anything from your past that’s keeping you from your dreams, call out to God and ask Him to help you move past it. David said, “In my distress I called upon the Lord…and my cry came before Him, even to His ears…. He brought me out into a broad place; He delivered me because He delighted in me” (Psalm 18:6, 19). He will bring you into a broad place because He delights in you!
So I encourage you to not allow your past to cause you injury today. Let the past be behind you. Don’t look back for someone to blame or ask why something happened to you. Reach forward to that broad place that is ahead of you. That’s where your success lies!