Tag Archives: look ahead

February 20, 2023 · 5:37 AM

Keep Looking Ahead

Have you ever tried to lose weight? Most of us who have, or need to, wish there was a pill we could take to do it. That would be nice and easy, but while lots of pills claim to, none work like they claim. Instead, what we have to do, outside of surgery, is to change our diet and exercise habits. If you’re committed to losing weight, you’ll have to endure eating foods you don’t really like. You’ll have to disrupt your schedule to add in time to lift weights and exercise. These can be painful. Most people don’t stick with it because of all the “pains” it is to get the results you want. The people who do stick it out look past these temporary inconveniences to the outcome they desire in order to achieve the results they want.

When David was anointed king, he was just a teenager. Most scholars believe it was about fifteen years before he actually became king. When he was anointed, he didn’t know how long it would take or the pain it would cost him. He was displaced from his family, chased like an outlaw, driven out of his own country and separated from friends in those years. He had the opportunity to kill King Saul a couple of times to take the throne, but that would be the easy way out and not what God intended. Instead, he kept looking forward to the promise of God and endured living in caves with outlaws, living in a foreign land and missing home knowing that his situation was temporary. The hope of God’s promise kept him going until God placed him on the throne.

Hebrews 12:1-3 says, “… And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up” (NLT). When we keep our eyes on the prize, we can endure a lot. If you’re looking at your current situation or the time you’re having to wait, you may grow weary or contemplate giving up. Remember God keeps His promises. Sometimes it takes years to come to fruition. Don’t give up too early because you face hardship. Look ahead to the fulfillment of what God is going to do. The present is temporary, but His promises last a lifetime.

Photo by Ross Sneddon on Unsplash

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May 17, 2021 · 5:53 AM

The Baton Of Freedom

When I was in high school, I ran track. One of the races I ran was a relay race. We would constantly practice handing off the baton. In the race, you could look back while you were standing still, but when the person handing you the baton said, “Run,” you took off and waited to hear, “Hand!” At that point, you opened your hand behind you and they would smack it on your hand to ensure you got it. The rule was you never looked back. If you looked back, you were likely to slow down, trip or even fault by stepping out of your lane. The person receiving the baton was blind to the exchange and had to trust the one handing it off. Their job was to keep their eyes ahead and run like crazy once they got the baton.

Paul used a similar story in Philippians 3:12-14. He wrote, “I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us” (NLT). One of the hardest things for us to do is to forget the past and to look forward. When we’re constantly looking backwards, we can’t give our full attention to what lies ahead. We’re likely to go slower, trip again or step out of our lane.

Proverbs 4:25-27 says, “Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you. Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path. Don’t get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil.” Where are you looking? Are you being sidetracked by your past? Remember that the things that happened in your past often qualify you for the future work God wants to do through you. If we’re wallowing in pity or shame, it’s hard to focus on handing the baton of freedom to others. God has ordered your steps, but it’s up to you to walk in them. Quit looking backwards and look straight ahead. There are some amazing things yet to be done, but you can’t accomplish them by looking backwards. Learn from your past, find freedom in Christ and run like crazy toward the goals and freedom God sets in front of you.

Photo by Pixabay from Pexels

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February 15, 2018 · 5:00 AM

Looking Ahead

Throwback Thursday is a new feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other writing ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

Since I live in a major US city, I get to experience traffic on my daily commute. Because of that, my eyes have been trained to look at the car right in front of me when I drive. If you’ve ever taken Driver’s Ed or Defensive Driving, you know that’s not a healthy driving habit. You should be looking about 10 to 30 seconds ahead while driving. People who drive with their eyes looking at their immediate situation tend to have more wrecks and tickets. Plus, I find it scares your wife a lot!

What’s true in driving, is true in life. There are people who get so caught up in their current situation that they lose sight of the future. Their present situation is all they can see, and they’re constantly living in fear of having an emotional wreck. Because they haven’t trained their eyes to look forward, it’s hard to imagine a positive future. Life becomes an emotional roller coaster with a pessimistic view of the world. That’s exhausting and not how God wants us to live our lives.

God wants us to train our eyes to look beyond our present circumstances and troubles. He wants us to look further down the road so we can see that our current situation is only temporary. In the bigger picture, we can see His hand directing our life with purposeful movement. II Corinthians 4:18 says, “So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever” (NLT).

When your current situation becomes overwhelming, look ahead to joy that’s coming because what you’re going through now is only temporary. This too shall pass. God uses these times to build character, perseverance, endurance and hope in us. Each circumstance you go through has a purpose that God is using for your good and for the good of others. The next time you get caught up looking at the present, remind yourself to look ahead. You are more than your present situation. There’s a bigger picture God is working on.

Photo by Dmitry Ratushny on Unsplash

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November 10, 2017 · 6:00 AM

Training For Godliness – Encouragement 

Each year, I take one week off from writing to help me refresh and reset. This is that week. To help you stay faithful to your daily devotional time, I’m bringing back a series I wrote a few years ago on disciplines we as Christians need to have. Enjoy and I’ll be back next week with all new devotions.


Training

Once you can do everything that we discussed this week, it’s time to really start training. Training is about pushing yourself beyond your limits. Jesse Owens, the Olympic sprinter, talked about how he learned to push beyond the pain. We must too. We can’t let life’s pains stop us from our training and running our race. We can’t let other people’s faults interrupt us from reaching our goal. It’s time to start really putting our faith into practice daily. Each day I ask God to allow me to be His hands and feet to at least one person. I ask that He would use me to speak His words to someone.

Training is hard work. Hebrews 12:2 in the Message says, “It means we better get on with it. Strip down, start running – and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how He did it. Because He never lost sight of where He was headed – that exhilarating finish in and with God – He could put up with anything.” Start running and never stop. Keep your mind on things above and look to what awaits those who finish the race.

Keep your mind on the prize. Paul said it like this in Philippians 3:14, “Friends, now don’t get me wrong; by no means do I consider myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward – to Jesus.” Just like in a marathon, you need to keep your mind on your goal of completing the race and hearing Jesus say, “Well done.” Hebrews 12:1 says that there is a great cloud of witnesses cheering us on! We aren’t alone in this race. We have others who are out there to help us complete it. Find a running buddy and challenge each other daily to keep going further than you ever thought possible.

Conclusion

There are many similarities in training for a marathon and training for godliness. Both require mental strength and endurance. One is for temporary gain and the other is for eternal gain. Set your mind on the things that are above and remember that this world is not our home. We should be working towards our eternal home. Spend time each day working on getting there. Philippians 2:12 says, “Work hard to show the results of your salvation.” Keep working. Keep pushing. Don’t let set backs discourage you. You are not running this race alone. You’re in it to win it!

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January 31, 2017 · 5:39 AM

Don’t Look Back


I ran several different events in high school for our track and field team. Besides working on our form, our coach gave us another bit of advice: never look back. Looking back costs you time, disrupts your form, and changes your wind resistance. We were told, “Even if you hear footsteps close behind, don’t look back. Just look straight ahead at the finish line until the race is over.” What was good advice for track is good for us in life.

Proverbs 4:25-27 says, “Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you. Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path. Don’t get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil” (NLT). It’s hard to stay in a straight line when you’re not looking forward. My son is a perfect example. He’s constantly looking everywhere except where he’s going. I keep reminding him, “Look ahead or you’ll run into things, fall down and get hurt.” 

We all need to be looking where we are going. What God has for you is not behind you. It’s ahead of you. Yes, your past happened, but it’s not where you’re going, it where you’re leaving. Think of Lot’s wife. She looked back and turned into a pillar of salt. The Angels told them to keep moving forward and not to look back. I don’t think it was an instant change to salt. I think she got caught up looking back, forgot to move forward, and was covered with the salty soot from the destruction. 

In Philippians 3:13, Paul wrote, “No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead,” It’s hard to forget the past and the things that happened, but if we allow them to distract us from our future, we could end up like Lot’s wife. We could become stationary and get stuck in that place. We need to be looking forward to what lies ahead so we win our race. Learn from the past, but keep looking where you’re going or you’ll run into things, fall down, and get hurt.

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December 22, 2016 · 5:24 AM

Look Ahead


Since I live in a major US city, I get to experience traffic on my daily commute. Because of that, my eyes have been trained to look at the car right in front of me when I drive. If you’ve ever taken Driver’s Ed or Defensive Driving, you know that not a healthy driving habit. You should be looking about 10 to 30 seconds ahead while driving. People who drive with their eyes looking at their immediate situation tend to have more wrecks and tickets. Plus, I find it scares your wife a lot!

What’s true in driving, is true in life. There are people who get so caught up in their current situation that lose sight of the future. Their present situation is all they can see and they’re constantly living in fear of having an emotional wreck. Because they haven’t trained their eyes to look forward, it’s hard to imagine a positive future. Life becomes an emotional roller coaster with a pessimistic view of the world. That’s exhausting and not how God wants us to live our lives though.

God wants us to train our eyes to look beyond our present circumstances and troubles. He wants us to look further down the road so we can see that our current situation is only temporary. In the bigger picture, we can see His hand directing our life with purposeful movement. II Corinthians 4:18 says, “So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.”

When your current situation becomes overwhelming, look ahead to joy that’s coming because what you’re going through now is only temporary. This too shall pass. God uses these times to build character, perseverance, endurance, and hope in us. Each circumstance you go through has a purpose that God is using for your good and for the good of others. The next time you get caught up looking at the present, remind yourself to look ahead. You are more than your present situation. There’s a bigger picture God is working on.

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