Philippians 3:13-14 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
A car rear-ended me the other day. There I was, in a line of traffic waiting for the light to change when I felt the intrusive thump. Thankfully, the collision didn’t cause any damage. The driver who hit me apologized profusely and I went on with my day, resisting the temptation to keep checking my rearview mirror.
Even if I had spotted another car encroaching my rear bumper, I doubt if staring into my rearview mirror would have avoided an accident. (Actually, the distraction could have caused another one). Rearview mirrors serve an important purpose, but they only reveal where we’ve been, not where we’re going.
It’s a principle we can apply to our thought life. Whenever we keep recalling the past—our disappointments, failures, mistakes—it’s like looking in the rearview mirror. It hinders us from seeing the bigger picture, the windshield in front of us. The great big beautiful windshield that leads us to God’s plans and purposes.
Just because we’ve met disappointments in the past, just because people we trusted trusted hurt us, just because we’ve made huge mistakes, it doesn’t mean those things will happen again. Has being burned in the past caused you to be afraid of new relationships? Yeah. Me, too. But we can’t let past pain immobilize us. We need to shift our focus to the windshield ahead. We look in the rearview mirror and learn from the past, but we don’t live by it. Or in it.
The Apostle Paul knew the importance of letting go of the past. He didn’t get stuck in the wrongs done to him or in regrets for his mistakes. He considered everything a loss for the privilege of knowing Christ. That’s a pretty big windshield (Philippians 3:8). He exhorts us to do the same: To forget the past and press ahead.
So the next time life rear-ends you with an unexpected thump, check the rearview mirror and learn from it. Then move on. Don’t let rearview mirror lookin’ restrict your perspective.