I’m the type of person who does what they’re supposed to do like a goody two-shoes . . . until I realize everyone else is slacking off. In design classes, I usually do my reading religiously until halfway through the semester, when everyone is chuckling about being weeks and weeks behind.
It’s even like this when I read those friendly posts about being single on Instagram. I don’t mind being single until I see those posts and then I wonder . . . wait . . . is there something wrong with me? Am I supposed to be struggling like these 300 commenters??
I’ll never forget when I read an Instagram post where the lady explained how she’d been trapped in comparing herself to her high-school self.
I chuckled to myself; I hadn’t changed much.
But something inside me did a little sassy head-cock; like REALLY? Are you sure?
So I opened up my photos app. And I was shocked.
I can’t really explain it. I saw a girl, just three years ago, who was confident and fit and an athlete. I saw a girl with freckles and defined cheekbones from hours of running every day.
And I looked in the mirror.
And I decided what I saw wasn’t good.
Areas subject to poisonous BACK THEN thinking: Circumstances/opportunities, relationships, appearance, talents, growth
How often do we look in the mirror and say “Nope, not good. I was better BACK THEN.”
How often do we look at our past and say, “Now is not good. It was better BACK THEN.”
And there is the subtle lie of BACK THEN. It’s absolutely poisonous. Yes, there is beauty in looking back every now and then. We are supposed to reflect on what God has worked in our lives; just read the Old Testament. God constantly mentions how He’s brought the Israelites out of Egypt and through the Red Sea.
But then we read this GOLD:
Remember not the former things,
    nor consider the things of old.
Behold, I am doing a new thing;
    now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
    and rivers in the desert.
What hurts is when we’re so stuck in the BACK THEN that 1.) we forget how much we’ve grown since then, and 2.) we can’t see what God is doing NOW.
We’re saying, “God, you were good then; but you messed up in my NOW.”
We’re saying, “God, you sure did a great job in those springs. But here in this wilderness? Yeahhhhh not so much.”
We’re saying, “God, things were so much better then. They can never be as good as that. My purpose is over.”
God doesn’t mess up in the NOW. He didn’t mess up in our THENs either.
God uses both the springs and the wildernesses. That’s why He’s God. And I’m going to argue He uses His people even more powerfully when we ARE in those dry periods, those wildernesses. Humans assume everything will be going well when things are . . . well, going well. But the minute tragedy or pain or uncomfortableness hits, our human reasoning just can’t cope. That’s the greatness about our God: He’s powerful enough to use the broken and ugly and sharp.
As long as we are here on earth, as long as we have breath in our lungs, we have a PURPOSE. God is not done with us. We are HERE and NOW for a reason.
“Back then” is a terrible trick Satan uses to paralyze us. He tells us we can’t do the now because the then was too great. Or maybe the then actually broke us beyond repair.
Let’s not discredit God. He is greater than BACK THEN. He is Alpha and Omega.
Reflect>>>
1. What areas are you caught in BACK THEN thinking?
2. Are those areas positive or negative memories?
3. Name one way you can see God working in the NOW. If you can’t think of something, keep on the lookout in the next week and pray earnestly.
