Following Christ Into the Future

I've always found it interesting that, at Christ's empty tomb, the angels told the women who had arrived to anoint Jesus' body only to be told that Jesus was risen from the dead:

"Go, tell His disciples and Peter that He [Jesus] is going ahead of you to Galilee..." (Mark 16:7).

This has always seemed an apt metaphor for the fact that to follow Jesus doesn't involve nostalgia for the past or propping up old ways of doing things.

When you follow Jesus, you can be grateful for what has happened in the past--including Jesus' death and resurrection. You can also learn from the past. But your focus is on Him and the future--both here and now and in eternity--to which Jesus takes those with faith in Him.

With a focus on Jesus and the future, we're freed from the endless rehearsal of past failures and hurts. We're free from religion's insistence on reproducing proscribed rites and conditions in order to win God's attention or approval.

Instead, Christians bearing their scars and mindful of the lessons of their lives with Christ, learn and grow and move into the great future that belongs to all who follow Christ!

Check out these thoughts, today's installment of Our Daily Bread.