Here are five good reasons to break the habit of looking backward

I pulled into a Mcdonald's and quickly bought a Big Mac.

I carefully wrapped the bottom and pulled out into traffic.

Gulping my first bite, I was horrified to see a colossal pickle, baptized in mustard, fall out on my suit pants.

I looked down only for a moment to wipe it off. When I looked up, I had crossed the line and had to swerve to miss an 18-wheeler.

After pulling off the road, a voice told me: "What's going on through the windshield is more important than a PICKLE ON YOUR PANTS."

Don't look down. Don't look back. Eyes on the windshield.

Use these secrets to break the habit of looking back:

1. Looking back is always fear-based.

Looking over your shoulder, you are afraid of something pursuing you.

Fear is no way to live.

Become "faith-based." Say it out loud: "NO FEAR HERE."

Look ahead in faith. What you are running from in fear has no power over you anymore.

2. Your future is nowhere in your past.

Looking back is pointless. There's nothing there. It's a vapor.

Your future is forward. Paul said, "Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3: 13-14)

All the past offers you is regret. Ahead of you is purpose. You can still shape your future.

3. Looking back puts your life on pause.

Lot and his family were running from the destruction of Sodom. "Lot's wife…looked back…and she became a pillar of salt." (Gen. 19:26)

She froze in time. One glance at what she lost "froze” her from her future forever.

Some people have been "on pause" for years. They can't move past a failure, a divorce, or a rejection.

Looking backward is dangerous. Find the pause button today and "unpause" it. Use the years you have left on this earth to fulfill your purpose and bring glory to God.

4. Looking back breaks your present concentration.

Jesus told a budding young follower: "No one who puts his hand to the plow and LOOKS BACK is fit for the kingdom of God." (Luke 9:62)

Imagine plowing a straight row in a field if you constantly look backward over your shoulder.

You can't concentrate on your present skills if you are focusing on your past performance.

If you lost THAT job, you will probably lose THIS job if you keep looking back in regret.

Put your hand on the plow, and don't "look back."

5. Looking back hurts those you are walking with now.

Life moves on. You form new relationships. They were not in your past mistakes and failures.

When your mind is looking backward continually, you are penalizing them from a future with you.

LET IT GO.

Eyes through the windshield. It is far more critical than every "pickle on your pants."