look where you’re going, not where you’ve been

I flipped on the blinker and looked over my shoulder to make sure the lane was clear before switching. As a new driver, I was using extra caution but the extended glance over my shoulder caused my car to veer to one side of the road.

“Look where you’re going, not where you’ve been,” my dad said as he quickly drew attention back to the road. His statement stuck in my mind, and almost 2 decades later it’s one I find myself repeating to my own children on a daily basis.

My children have a bad habit of running while looking over their shoulders. They have earned plenty of bruises and bumps on their sweet faces because the wall wins every time. They’ve tripped themselves up and lost their momentum as they’ve crashed into door fames and furniture, and I find myself reminding them, “Look where you’re going, girls!” But they always seem more interested in keeping their eyes on what’s behind rather than on what lies ahead.

In his letter to the Philippians, Paul wrote, “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.” (Philippians 3:13-14)

Where is your focus, my friend? Are you clinging to the past? Wrapped up in old memories, longing for what was or has been? Or is your focus on what lies ahead?

It’s easy to become focused on the past: on what we should have done, could have done, or wish we would have done. We can become so entangled by yesterday that we run our race blindly, tripping and stumbling forward, because our eyes are in the wrong direction.

Maybe we’re distracted not by our past, but maybe our focus is on the other runners. God has marked out a race for each of us. It’s not a competition. At one point, we will all cross the finish line. The reward, however, for pressing on in the race is eternal life with Christ.

So you might be wondering how to forget the past and look forward to what lies ahead. You might actually enjoy the past and are fearful of what lies ahead, or you might be so caught up in the past that it seems impossible to look ahead.

“Let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. 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.” (Hebrews 12:1-2)

That’s how we do it. That’s how we stay on course and finish the race. We keep our eyes on Jesus. Not on our past, not on our sin, and not on our neighbor. And with our focus on Christ, we will preserve in the right direction until we cross the finish line.