Looking Forward

Slim Dusty, king of Australian country music, died on September 19, 2003. His milestone 100th album called Looking Forward Looking Back was released in 2000. For it he was awarded three Golden Guitars.
“Looking forward looking back/ I’ve come a long way down the track/ Got a long way left to go/ Makin’ songs from what I know/ Makin’ sense of what I see. . . .”
In “Matilda No More,” he sings about “junkies” who go on “bag-snatchin’ jags” to feed their habit, “uranium mining” and “toxic slime,” the “homeless and poor,” and, “now it’s waltzing Matilda no more. . . . “This country could still be what we want it to be/ With care and compassion the dream we’ll restore/ And we’ll go waltzing Matilda once more.”

As we begin a new year, we look back and learn from the past; it’s good, also, to look forward and have a goal, but it’s also important to live in the present And what does this new year hold for you?

hope for the future
1 When we think about the pollution, degradation and corruption of our planet, what does God say will happen to it?
Revelation 21:1 “I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.”
God’s dwelling place (heaven) is eventually to be with humankind in this world made new. “He will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God” (v 3).

2 What will be “no more” when God makes earth his place of dwelling?
Revelation 21:4 “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

3 Upon what does Paul say we should “set our hearts”?
Colossians 3:1, 2 “on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God . . . not on earthly things.”

4 Where is our citizenship when we accept Jesus as our Saviour?
Philippians 3:20. “. . . in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.”
When we accept Jesus as Saviour, we receive the gift of eternal life, becoming citizens of heaven, with all its rights. We “are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow-citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household” (Ephesians 2:19, 20).

forgiveness and acceptance
5 What has God done in order to deal with our past?
Romans 5:6-8 “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

6 What effect has the death of Jesus on those who are weighed down with guilt?
Ephesians 1:7 “In him [Jesus] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.”

7 What right has God given to those who receive and trust in Jesus?
John 1:12 “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”

living in the present
8 For those struggling, what does Jesus promise?
Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

9 In our troubled world, what offer does Jesus make to us?
John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

10 What do we receive when we accept Jesus as Saviour?
1 John 5:11-12 “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
John says, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1).

Slim sings in “Memories and Dreams,” “I’m here at the horizon/ Between the future and the past/ I’m looking through the things that fade/ To the things that really last/ This road that I’ve been walking/ I would not trade for gold/ It’s helped me choose the path between/ The new ways and the old.” And if you want a road that will help you choose between what fades and what lasts, choose what Jesus offers—“the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6). Life takes on new meaning when you do, and the gift of eternal life He offers will truly last.

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