Kingdom Greetings Believers!
I am so excited about this year’s Youth Day! Through numerous discussions with some of our youth and with much prayer and guidance from the Lord, our theme this year is: “Stop Living in Rearview!”
This theme has been lifted out of the soil of the Old Testament rooted in Isaiah 43:18-19. The New American Standard Bible Version reads, “Do not call to mind the former things or ponder things of the past. Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it?” But I also like Eugene Peterson’s Message Version which says, “Forget about what’s happened; don’t keep going over old history. Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new. It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?” God is telling us “Stop Living in Rearview!”
Here is a picture of the vantage point from the driver’s seat. The driver has a small rearview mirror which shows him or her things that are behind them; things related to what they have already passed. Then there is a big window that allows the driver to see what is in the road that lies before them, places they can go, people they can meet and various experiences they could have.
Our lives are something like that, individually and as a ministry. God has a window of great opportunity for us while we do have a rearview mirror a past! But the most interesting thing believers, is that the creator of this structure and our life structure is our rearview (our past) is not bigger than the window to the road of opportunity. What we allow sometimes in our own individual lives and as a ministry is we live (drive) life (the road) through the rearview instead of looking through the window of opportunity and instead of properly encountering (pulling up to) opportunity, we miss and/or crash into opportunity.
Just imagine someone driving through life through the rearview? Would you ride with someone like that? Could they even make it down the street or get out the parking lot without some type of damage to themselves or someone else?
The “rearview” concept could be understood as being stuck in the past and it could be good or bad. It is a place or state of being. It’s being psychologically, emotionally, spiritually or even physically stuck in previous relationships, past issues, past pains or hurts, past successes, past failures, and past thoughts. An individual can’t enjoy new relationships or new opportunities because they remember what happened in the past; they measure and encounter everything by the past, which limits their life experiences even in ministry.
While we can learn from our past, God has uniquely designed our lives to be motivated, led and governed by proper forward VISION! It is the “already, but not yet” of God; the promises of God! Like driving you are not motivated by things in the rearview. You are motivated to move forward by the things you see (vision) in front of you. God places opportunities, promises, dreams and a purpose in front of you to pursue.
So many youth, adults and ministries find themselves in God’s collision center because we fail to keep our eyes (hearts, minds and spirits) open to the “new thing”, the road ahead that God has for us! We can have better grades if we stop thinking about last semester or quarter grades. We can have better relationships if we stop dealing with new prospects as if they were the other guy or girl. We can have evolving, relevant, creative, spirit filled, life transforming, and unpredictable ministry if we forgive, and work together; stay open to God’s new thing, stop worrying about who is here or not or how someone did what when they were a part of the ministry.
God is calling our youth and maybe our church to “Stop Living in the Rearview!” God has wonderful opportunities for us, but we can no longer allow a small mirror limit great opportunity. Life and ministry is about living things not dead things (the past). Our challenge in June is to “Stop Living in the Rearview” and let’s move forward in our personal lives and as a ministry and be all that God has called us to be. We can no longer speak about the possibilities of our lives and ministry based upon the rearview mirror. The Bible says, there is life and death in the power of the tongue. Sometimes we experience more of the death we speak than the death that is really in something or associated with someone. Sometimes we experience more of the negative in our lives and ministry that we have spoken through the misuse of the power God placed in our tongues than the real challenges that is in our lives and associated with ministry. “Stop Living in Rearview” and start speaking, expecting and seeking what thus saith the Lord!
That is the grace in the text, “Forget” and don’t ponder “the past” but God says, “BEHOLD! I am going to do something new!” God acknowledges that there is a past, but is motivating us not to live in the past. God is showing us that there is always something greater for us beyond what we have already experienced. Don’t let success limit the possibility of greater achievement. Don’t let past hurts detour you from available healing. We can’t move forward in our personal lives living in the rearview and we can’t lead our ministries with “rearview vision.” In the words of DeWayne Woods, we have to “Let Go and Let God!”
“Stop Living in Rearview!”
Rev. Maurice Maxwell
FBCV Youth Minister
