“But Lot’s wife looked back longingly and was turned into a pillar of salt.” Genesis 19:26
New English Translation
Have you ever longed for something that you used to have? Whether it be something that was good or bad, we’ve all longed for something from our past. But, did you know that this is actually a sinful action? But, why?
The crazy thing is, contentment is unattainable if you’re constantly longing for things you used to have, even if they were good things. And, in some cases, we long for things that God never wanted us to have. In the case of Lot’s wife in Genesis 19:26, she longed for her comfortable life in a sinful place. Rather than being content with the fact she was being rescued from destruction, she longed for what she’d grown used to.
When it comes to living with Christ, we’ve got to be ready to adapt to whatever God calls us to in any given moment. To be truly content, we can’t keep looking at what we used to know and set that as the standard of perfection. In churches, it is common to find individuals who constantly reference their favorite former pastor. Then, because they’ve got this unrealistic expectation in their mind that only something exactly like that former pastor is perfection, they’re never content with their new pastors.
In some cases, people look back at the revivals of the past or the old Sunday school meetings and assume that those are affective today. Then, they’re discontent when those functions are discontinued due to ineffectiveness. Looking to the past prevents moving forward in the now. It’s a road block to what Jesus has to come.
There are also cases where people were comfortable in their sin, and as life gets more challenging as they let God transform them, they long for that old comfort. In many cases like this, that person returns to their old ways because they’ve created a fantasy in their head that the old way was better for them in the end. Sadly, many people are tricked into this fantasy and then end up worse off then before they attempted to get out of that old life.
Something that each of these examples has in common is being stuck in the former. However, Jesus is never stagnant in how He interacts with people. Yes, Jesus never changes. He is eternal and constant in His love, mercy, and kindness. Yet, He never chooses to duplicate. This is because, though He’s constant, He’s not stale.
God is always interacting with His people in the way that He knows will speak to their hearts. And, in current times, that means He’s not going to duplicate the revivals of the 50s or use Sunday school as a key tool. Why is this? Because these forms no longer speak to people like they used to. Culture has changed and so people’s expectations and interests have changed.
If we’re constantly looking for God to do exactly what He did back in the day, then we’re going to miss what He is doing today. God wants us to learn from the past, but He does not want us to be stuck in it. Think about this: the Pharisees crucified Jesus because they were stuck in their old way of doing things. They didn’t want to change. They didn’t want to admit that God was doing a new thing.
What about you? Are you stuck? Are you not willing to admit that God is doing a new thing? Today, I encourage you to let go of the past and look for what God is doing now. Nothing in the past can replace what He is currently doing. Keep your eyes open and you will see that.