As I have mentioned here before, I go through a daily Bible study with several guys from our church using a Bible app on our phones. It's not perfect, but it does allow us to study the Bible, and "discuss" it with each other on the app, while encouraging each other and holding each other accountable.  (And if you are ever interested in joining us, let me know.)

We did a short study back before Christmas by Charles Stanley called "Stuck in Reverse." It was a pretty good devotional and a helpful motivation to keep moving our spiritual lives forward. And I thought about it again this week when I was reading a story about a guy who had an old car that developed some issues, though his problems were just the opposite of being stuck in reverse.

First, his heater stopped working. And though it can be pretty cold in the winter without heat, he was able to get by with an extra coat and some gloves. Then, he had some trouble with his transmission, so that he couldn't get the car to go in reverse. He could shift it into "R" all he wanted, but there was just no going backwards. Now, one can manage a car without a heater, but it's pretty difficult to drive a car that doesn't go into reverse. Difficult, but not impossible. 

He learned that he had to be creative, and always drive with a no-backing-up mentality. He wouldn't park on a driveway unless it was built on a slope and he could roll his way back into the street. In parking lots, he looked for two empty spaces (one in front of the other), so he could pull through the first and park in the second, as if he had backed in. He got pretty good at it, and learned to overcome his "irreversibility" while driving that old car for almost a year. 

Now, that might be a terrible way to drive a car, but it's not a bad way to live your life. If you can learn to live without going in reverse, you can overcome many of the limitations that we put on ourselves. 

There are many times when we say, "I know what I want to do, I know what I ought to do, but I have this history of failure...I tried this before and it didn't work." That's the driving-in-reverse approach. It's the opposite of what we're called to do and be. 

With that, let me share  two Scriptural admonitions.  The first is the second shortest verse in the Bible, from Luke 17:32. Jesus was teaching His disciples, and he included a very short illustration in these three words:  "Remember Lot's wife." No other explanation was needed. 

Now, if you don't know the story, it comes from Genesis 19, where Lot and his unnamed but forever remembered wife were delivered from the destruction that came upon Sodom and Gomorrah. As they were fleeing the fire and brimstone behind them, they were told not to look back, but she could not resist--and she was turned into a pillar of salt. That certainly is a story and a warning worth remembering, which is why Jesus referenced it to His disciples.

And here's a second Bible passage worth remembering, about forgetting. The apostle Paul wrote to his friends in Philippi:   "But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." (Phil. 3:13-14)

Are you stuck in reverse? Are there things from your past that you need to forget, as you make a conscience effort to drive forward? Stop focusing on what's in the rear-view mirror, and where you have come from. Forget what lies behind. Make your life irreversible, and start looking ahead and pressing on toward the prize.

The Lord has great things in store for  your life, and  my life--and our lives together--as we live expectantly, facing forward with faith. I am praying for you, as I hope you are for me, and I look forward to seeing you on Sunday.

--Pastor Ken