BACKWARD PROGRESS

GOING BACK TO GO FORWARD!
A couple of years ago I was traveling in the public bus from one city to another in South West part of Nigeria. No sooner had the bus I boarded left the park than it began to give a strange sound. Good enough, the bus driver was sensitive enough to pick and interpret as such that could lead to engine knock. So he decided and informed all the passengers of his good intention to take us back to the motor park where we took off from and transfer us into another bus for the experience of a safer journey. Surprisingly, this announcement suddenly divided the passengers into two camps. One group believed that the driver has taken a correct and logical decision expected in such a situation and therefore agreed to be journey BACKWARD to the garage to enter a more safer bus. The second group on the other hand had a different opinion. The thought of GOING BACK was not a welcomed idea at all. They began to justify their opinion with different religious reasons. I began to hear statements like, “Backward never forward ever”, “I have not signed up for a backward journey this year”. In short, the later group agreed to come down and stay by the roadside, thinking it would be easier to connect with buses already in motion and heading towards their destination. The first group of which I belonged gladly agreed with the driver to travel BACKWARD to the park to join another bus. Before long we were back on the road again heading towards our initial destination. Surprisingly, as we journey afresh towards our destination, the other group were still on the roadside still waiting for “cheap” buses. They have not made any progress ever since. Now we must leave them behind. This experience became a matter to me to ponder on!
Now as I meditated on this incident, I head these words very loud in my spirit, “SOMETIMES IN THE JOURNEY OF LIFE, WE NEED TO GO BACKWARD IN OTHER TO GO FORWARD.” A couple did exactly that in the Bible!
“And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child JESUS tarried BEHIND in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it…And when they found Him not, they TURNED BACK again to Jerusalem, seeking Him” Luke 2:43,45
Mary the mother of Jesus with Joseph her husband had travelled a day’s journey on their way home when suddenly discovered something very important to their journey and destination was missing. What did they do? They just TURNED BACK! Sometimes we need to go back in order to go forward. Just come to think about it, of what use or profit is a very fast journey to the future when the Future Himself has stayed BEHIND? If there was any future Mary and Joseph were heading towards, it was Jesus. Jesus with them and in them was the only hope of their secure future. But unknowningly to them, that same Jesus had stayed BACK while they kept going. Thank God they realized it before it was too late and they took the wise decision of GOING BACK a day’s journey in order to secure a future of eternal years! Is that not a great wisdom? There is a great wisdom in GOING BACK a day’s journey if going back will make us reach our destination in life. There is wisdom in going back if going backward is what will make the journey smoother, faster and safer. How I pray that the Holy Spirit of Christ will explain this to your heart.
As a single guy or lady in a relationship, everybody around you, especially family and friends already know that you are now ENGAGED, but you alone know that that engagement is an engagement to abuse, slavery, fear and torment. You alone know that if that relationship should end in marriage, it will be a prison of regret for life. Every time you think of marriage, your heart palpitate with trepidation of an uncertain future. I think it is wisdom for you to GO BACK to the status of “Single and Searching” rather than going ahead in an abusive, life-draining, purposeless relationship that is heading towards a disastrous marriage. Listen! Many are in the prison called Marriage today because when they ought to take the wise decision of going a little backward in order to go forward, they became indifferent to the red signals and blindly rushed ahead like a ram to its slaughter. Now it is too late for them! Broken relationship, they say, is better than broken marriage. This is my counsel to you, BREAK THAT RELATIONSHIP BEFORE IT BREAKS YOU EVENTUALLY. It is this failure that has rendered many people broken-hearted today. “A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.”
As a business person, sometimes we need to go back in order to go forward. There are times when necessity demands that you shut down a business before it shuts you down. Sometimes you need to go back to the drawing board of re-strategizing and planning in order to come out with better ideas, methods and strategy for stronger output and greater productivity. Yes, this may bring about incurring some losses. But any loss that yieldss greater profit in the long run is a good loss.
Also as preachers and ministers of Christ, sometimes we just need to go back in order to go forward. While should you go on serving when the real Essence of service has tarried BEHIND? Why should we go on working for the Lord when the Lord of the work has stayed back? Where are you going to when the destination Himself has been left behind? It is foolishness to keep going ahead when the Person we are going to meet has tarried BEHIND. If the destination has been left behind, the reasonable thing ought to be that we turn back to where the destination is.
There are many today who have gone ahead to start something in the name of ministry when the Object of ministry Himself is way far behind. Of course anybody can go ahead to do anything without Him, but any going ahead when Jesus has actually stayed behind is a going ahead to nothing; a going ahead to futility and vanity. Remember Jesus Himself had said, “Without me ye can do nothing.” It is not about being busy. Somebody can be busy doing nothing. Not every motion leads to progress. Rotational motion is a good example: it is a movement around the same point; a motion with zero effect. Likewise, ministry is not about being popular, somebody can be popular in nonsense. It is not about being famous or notable, somebody can be notable for error.
What have you gone ahead to do or start that Jesus was not involved in? It doesn’t matter how big, popular or sacrificial it might appear; if I were you, I will make the choice of going back to correct my error in order to make true progress in life. If Mary and Joseph could go back, you also can go back. And going back sometimes could mean closing down the church He never sent you to establish. Going back could mean stopping those idolatrous and anti-bible practises that have brought you great fortune in ministry. Going back could mean correcting those erroneous teachings that have given you a brand name by its wide acceptance among your congregation. Going back could mean putting a stop to the merchandizing of the gifts and grace of God in the name of being prophetic. Jesus was the greatest of all the prophets that ever lived and NEVER did He at any time exploit anyone in anyway! Going back could mean returning to do restitution where you have wronged and hurt men to make “progress”. DO NOT BE TOO ASHAMED TO GO BACK WHERE AND WHEN NECESSARY. JESUS IS ALL THAT MATTERS. A man who is coward to go back to confront and correct his wrong foundation can never rise to his intended capacity in life! Don’t wait until it is too late before you go back. It is this failure to go back that will make some people to hear the verdict of “Depart from me. I know you not, ye workers of iniquities” on the final day of judgement.
And to the religious folks out there, I ask you, where are you going without Jesus Christ? I heard you talked about going to Heaven, which Heaven are you going without Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour? Definitely not the Heaven of rest! Tell me, which of the religious leaders who have ever traversed this planet earth guaranteed you of eternal life of rest? Which of the religious leaders from Abraham till now promised men a sure of abode of rest after death? Definitely not Mohammed of Islam; not Siddhartha Gautama of Buddhism, not Confucius of Confucianism, not Moses of Judaism. ONLY Jesus Christ the Son of the living God guaranteed humanity of eternal life. A prove of which He made by His Resurrection from the dead. Only the living Jesus can give life to the dead! Jesus is the ONLY Redeemer from the sin that enslaves humanity to Satan. He ALONE is the atonement for the sin of humanity. Listen up! There is ONLY ONE GOD and there is equally ONLY ONE MEDIATION BETWEEN GOD AND MAN. HE IS JESUS CHRIST THE SON OF GOD! You are going nowhere without Him. Well, someone can be going to destruction without Him! Whoever does not believe in the only begotten of God has no eternal life and such is doomed forever!
Why not turn to Jesus today? You have insulted Him, Yes. But He died for you while you were yet a sinner. You have killed the people who believed on His name. Yes, He knows you did it ignorantly in unbelieve and He is waiting for you to believe and be forgiven of your sins. He is the appointed Judge of the living and the dead on the judgment day. It’s why God raised Him from the dead! You have said you will never accept Him, but now you have to go back on that decision.
You cannot leave Jesus BEHIND and hope to find something ahead. He is the Future! Is Jesus with you at the moment? Is He in your thoughts and decisions? Can you find Him in what you are doing at the moment? Can you confidently say He leads you into that thing you called ministry? If you searched and you discover He is missing, please, leave what you are doing to go and look for Him. Sometimes in life, we need to go back in order to go forward.
Trust you are blessed reading this. You can email me via [email protected].