Why would you go back?
I recall many years ago driving south with the family, on our way to visit my brother in Canberra. We were travelling the New England Highway, somewhere approaching Armidale, when we saw some very angry clouds forming on the horizon. In a very short period of time, we were in the thick of a powerful storm system, with drenching rain, and more significantly, a lot of dangerous lightning.
Back in those days, the Highway was nothing more than a pot holed two lane road, with very few places to pull over. You had to keep going, as there was a danger of being mowed down by the huge semis, who weren't going to stop for anyone! Well I battled the elements for nearly 50 kilometres, and then suddenly we emerged into clear skies, with the sun shining brightly.
Approaching a resting place, I pulled over, just to recover my nerves. We looked back the way we had come, and you wouldn't believe how ugly it looked behind us. The sky looked angrier than ever, we could see the forked lightning and heard the rumbling of thunder.
With so much darkness behind us and a much better road and conditions ahead, believe me, we had no desire to turn around and head back into what we had come from. Why would anyone do that? But sadly, there are those who do exactly that - spiritually.
If you are loving and following Jesus Christ, then you've experienced the miracle described in Colossians 1:13, where God says that He "has rescued (you) from the dominion of darkness and brought (you) into the kingdom of the Son He loves." Yes he has rescued you out of darkness. Now imagine someone rescued from a burning or collapsed building. Can you imagine them going back into the wreckage they were just rescued from? And yet that's exactly what many Jesus-followers do. They want to head back into the darkness from which Christ has delivered them.
That day our family experienced the dark clouds behind them and the bright road ahead is a picture of what I call a "BC/AD" experience. That's your time "before Christ" and your life since the moment you began your relationship with Him. It's not just the world's history that's divided into BC and AD - it's the personal history of all who have been rescued from their sin by Jesus Christ - life before and after Christ.
But could it be that you've been heading back to some aspect of the BC - the “before Christ" period, back in the direction of what God calls "the dominion of darkness"? The old lying, the old habit, the old crowd, the old selfishness or bad mouth, the old anger, or the old depression?
It doesn't even have to come to that. Once you really enjoyed worshipping and serving the Lord. It was a thrill to share with others what Jesus had done in your life. And then - it suddenly all seemed to fall flat. Worshipping became, if not a distant memory, something which you rarely take part in these days. And being so busy about yourself, you can't recall the last time you sacrificed your time, money or possessions in the service of the Lord. Somehow you've made a U-turn on the Jesus-road and started back toward that time before you met Jesus.
Maybe you're forgetting how ugly, dark and stormy it was back there - the emptiness, the lack of joy and peace. The questions about life - for what purpose were you born? Why are you here on this earth? Or maybe you were raised in a Christian environment. You never experienced much of Satan's enslaving darkness, and you're just tempted to try a little. Sin has some very attractive packages, but that's all they are - packages. Once you open them, you find what's inside is a lot of guilt, a lot of shame, a lot of bondage, and a lot of loneliness. And opening them costs you the greatest peace of mind you've had in your life: the wonderful sense of the closeness of Jesus and the joy that only He can give you - the promise of eternal life.
Paul says, Jesus "gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness" (Titus 2:13). How can we drift back into the things He died to get us out of? I can't think of a greater insult to the Man who died for you. Because of Jesus, you were able to drive out of the storm, out of the darkness, out of eternal danger.
Don't go back there. Everything you were made for, everything you need is on the Jesus-road ahead of you. Keep driving toward His light. That ugly sky behind you will soon be just a shrinking shadow in your rear view mirror. And you will know once again, the peace and joy which no one and nothing else can give. If you have made one U-turn, now is the time to do another - back to Jesus! Grace and peace......