“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” – 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV)
A runner who keeps looking back risks losing the race. Every backwards glance breaks focus, drains energy and opens the door to stumbling. In the same way, a believer who constantly revisits their old life cannot walk in the power and purpose of salvation.
You weren’t just cleaned up at salvation; you were made new. The “old man” refers to your former nature: bound to sin, driven by fleshly desires, and cut off from God. That version of you died with Christ (Romans 6:6). Your past didn’t get a makeover; it was nailed to the cross. What is dead has no claim.
Yet many believers live as though the old man is still alive—longing for old habits, justifying past pleasures, and craving worldly validation. This is not just dangerous; it denies what Christ accomplished. One of the fruits of salvation is severed ties with who we used to be. Our desires begin to shift. What once satisfied us now grieves us. The pleasures that once ruled us lose their grip.
Lot’s wife is a cautionary tale. Though delivered from Sodom, her heart remained there. She looked back—and was turned into a pillar of salt (Genesis 19:26). Her body left destruction, but her desires didn’t. God doesn’t just want to move us out of sin; He wants sin out of us.
The journey of salvation is forward. Paul declared, “Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I press toward the goal” (Philippians 3:13-14). You can’t walk in resurrection life while clinging to a corpse. Don’t feed what God has buried.
Yes, the flesh will tempt you to return. Old cravings may whisper, “You’re missing out.” But Egypt was never home. It was bondage. And Christ didn’t save you so you could sit at the border of your past.
Beloved, the cross was the funeral of your old life. The resurrection was your new beginning. Fix your eyes on Jesus, not on what He died to free you from.
Don’t look back. You have nothing there. Your life is ahead—hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3).
Bible Reading Plan: 2 Samuel 7-9; Mark 14:22-42