As a young Christian having given my life to Christ, I was, excited and anxious to see what awaited me. Like a sponge I soaked up the words that emanate from the pulpit, while doing my best to apply what I heard to my life. As I raced towards and through salvation, I was urged to give up certain things. Prepared or not as a means to draw closer to God. Some was God led, some out of fear, and others because someone said it was a necessary thing to do. I have always enjoyed music and it has always been a present part of my life. So much so in fact that I followed (if only briefly) in my father's footsteps when he was a disc jockey for AFRTS (that's armed forces radio and television) while stationed overseas. I DJ’d with a friend in Germany for a short while, having a vast collection of vinyl albums, 45s and 33s (for those old enough to remember), as well as a vast assortment of cassette tapes that I accumulated for years.
Suddenly in the days of my youth I heard a sermon, and while I do not recall it is exactness, the result was impactful enough for me to take the entirety of my collection to a local pawn shop and drop it off with little to show of its value. Some thirteen years later (from 1987 to early 2003 to be exact), I realized after a certain traumatic event in my life I sought the comfort of that which I emptied myself of so many years before. And while I found myself reaching back it did not mean I grew backwards. All the while I was doing God's work, ministering to others, teaching youth, children’s puppet ministry, and steady growth in faith's walk. But I realized as well that while we may physically empty our lives of certain things, problems, burdens, heartaches, hindrances, relationships, and the like, unless God fills the void in our heart, or better stated unless we ask God to fill the void, we will find ourselves reaching backwards, over and over again, yearning constantly for a past long forgotten.
Today’s podcast is titled
Reaching Backward
Philippians 3:13-14
13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
No one is immune, as we hurriedly ask God to complete his work in us, urgently wanting to be that new creature, but not fully understanding that some of the things in our life are going to take, time, patience, and perseverance. If you be emptied let God empty you, not as a matter of course, because someone directed or demanded it to happen and if you be filled, allow God to fill the empty places of our lives, the deep recesses of our hearts that we keep hidden from the world. While our conversations are full of past experiences, our heart's compass should be pointed towards Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.
