DAY 34 — The Pearl: I’m Not Going Back

DAY 34 — The Pearl: I’m Not Going Back

“Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal...” — Philippians 3:13–14 (NKJV)

Principle to Live

I cannot change what is behind me, but I can choose what direction I am going. By the grace of God, I can release yesterday and keep reaching forward toward everything He has ahead of me.

I’m Not Going Back

There are some places in life we were never meant to live again.

We may remember them. We may learn from them. We may even occasionally feel the emotions connected to them, but we do not have to move back into them.

Paul had a past. Before encountering Jesus, he had persecuted believers and participated in things he later realized were completely contrary to God. If anyone could have spent the rest of his life replaying his failures, Paul could have.

But he made a decision: “Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal.”

I love the direction of those words. Paul is reaching forward.

I have discovered that you cannot drive very far safely while staring in the rearview mirror. The mirror has a purpose. It lets you see where you have been, but it was never intended to become your primary view. The windshield is much larger than the rearview mirror for a reason.

Some of us may need to stop staring at yesterday.

Maybe you made mistakes you wish you could undo. Maybe someone hurt you deeply. Maybe a relationship ended differently than you hoped. Maybe you lost an opportunity, made a poor decision, experienced a failure, or walked through a season you never want to repeat.

You cannot rewrite yesterday, but by the grace of God, yesterday does not have to write the rest of your story.

That is freedom.

Forgetting does not mean pretending something never happened. It does not mean refusing to learn from our mistakes or denying the pain we experienced. It means we refuse to give the past permission to control our future.

Sometimes the thing holding us back is not even failure. It can be yesterday’s success. We can become so attached to what God did before that we stop expecting Him to do something fresh today. Yesterday’s revelation, victory, ministry season, accomplishment, or blessing can become a place we keep revisiting instead of continuing to follow Jesus forward.

God may have done something wonderful yesterday, but He is not finished today.

This is where I hear my mother’s words again. She is over ninety years old, and through the years one of her favorite sayings has been, “You’ve got to press on!” When you ask her how she is doing, rather than giving you a list of everything that is wrong, she will simply say, “I’m pressing on!”

There is a lot of wisdom in those words.

Life will give us plenty of reasons to stop. There will be disappointments, losses, unexpected changes, unanswered questions, and moments when things simply do not turn out the way we planned. We can spend our energy asking why yesterday happened, or we can take the hand of Jesus and keep walking into tomorrow.

Pressing forward does not mean we never hurt. It means pain does not get to choose our direction.

It also does not mean we press forward in our own strength. The same God who is working within us is the One giving us grace to take the next step. Sometimes pressing forward looks dramatic, but often it is very simple. We get up another morning. We pray again. We trust again. We forgive again. We love again. We believe again.

And sometimes we simply take one more step.

There have been seasons when I could clearly see where God was taking me, and there have been seasons when I could only see enough light for the next step. I am learning that I do not need to see the entire road to keep walking with Jesus. I only need to trust the One who does.

Perhaps today the Holy Spirit is putting His finger on something you keep revisiting. Maybe it is an offense, regret, failure, disappointment, or even an old season you wish you could recreate. You may not be able to change what happened, but you can decide that it will no longer determine where you are going.

What a beautiful exchange. I exchange regret for grace, shame for righteousness, disappointment for hope, yesterday’s victories for fresh dependence, and the weight of what is behind me for the freedom of reaching forward.

I do not know everything tomorrow holds, but I know Who holds me as I walk into it.

So I am not going back to condemnation. I am not going back to old offenses. I am not going back to living under yesterday’s failures, and I am not going to spend the rest of my life trying to recreate yesterday’s victories.

There is more of Jesus ahead of me.

There is more love to give, more grace to experience, more people to encourage, more purpose to fulfill, and more pearls to discover.

So when life gives me another reason to stop, I want to remember those simple words that have carried my mother through more than ninety years of living:

“You’ve got to press on!”

And by the grace of God, that is exactly what I intend to do.

I’m pressing on.

Prayer of Faith

Precious Heavenly Father, thank You that my past does not determine my future. I cannot change yesterday, but I can place it into Your hands and trust You with tomorrow.

Holy Spirit, show me anything I am still carrying that belongs behind me. I release regret, shame, offense, disappointment, and even my dependence upon yesterday’s victories. Give me grace to reach forward toward everything You have ahead.

When I cannot see the entire road, help me trust You for the next step. When life gives me a reason to stop, remind me that Your grace is still sufficient and Your hand is still holding mine.

I am pressing on—not in my own strength, but in complete dependence upon You.

I am loved by You, precious Heavenly Father, filled with Your Holy Spirit, and alive in You, my precious Savior, Jesus Christ. In the powerful name of Jesus, amen.