September 21, 2026 · Mark Bishop
Bank On It
“Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.”
Luke 24:44-48 →
## Looking Back
When I look back at my life within the last several years, the things I wrote or thought about didn't come close to where I'm at. In fact, a few years further back you could say that I wasn't sure I wanted kids, but now I have two girls. People can write about future goals and try their best to give an opinion about the future in regards to something, but it's easy to get it wrong. It's really a toss of a coin. Even when making resolutions, we hope to see ourselves at a different point in life but sometimes it doesn't go as planned so we add it again. I used to make New Year’s Resolutions, and I always put losing weight at the top of the list. Everything else usually changed, but that was a dark cloud hanging over me. When I had the best possible intentions, and got a good start, I would still just get back into the old routine. When Jesus appears to the disciples, there were no guesses or resolutions hoping for something better; they knew what He was there. What various authors wrote about thousands of years before this, they saw lived out in the life of Jesus down to the last detail. Jesus not only lets the disciples touch Him, but He gives them an opportunity see Him eating an actual fish as we read in the previous devotional. To add to the proof that He is indeed alive and is the Son of God, He reminds the disciples and readers that things about Him were written long ago. They, and us, could look back at facts, not just resolutions.
## Looking Forward
While looking back has its benefits, we can’t stay there. It’s impossible for us to live in the past. The best way to illustrate this is a rear view mirror. It is a necessary piece of equipment, but if that’s all we’re looking at while driving there’s going to be a wreck. We examine, discover, and realign when we look back, but we do the living in the present. The following are two examples that come to mind where focusing on the past instead of moving forward in God’s redemption plan: 1) Lot and his family had the opportunity to escape God’s judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah, but his wife decided to take one last look back and it killed her (Genesis 19:26). 2) The Israelites were growing tired of being in the wilderness and eating manna, so they complained and thought about the food they had in Egypt (Numbers 11:115). We’re told to remember what God did in the past and to pass the truth on to each generation. History is important to know as it’s part of the foundation of where we are in the present, but we can’t live there. We must look forward. In fact, in John 8:56, Jesus says, “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” Abraham looked forward to the day His Savior would appear.
## Self-Check
Looking back helps us remember who God was and what God did. Looking in the present reminds us who God is and what He can do. Looking forward reminds us of who God will be and what He will do. We can sometimes have our minds cloud our judgment based on information that comes in all at once. To help matters, it says their minds were opened to understand. In other words, it all started to make sense. They saw Him. They touched Him. They fed Him. They heard Him speak. They remembered what the different authors wrote about the coming Messiah.
We may not be able to know what tomorrow holds or what the next year's you will look like, but we can trust that God holds our future in His hands. His words are true and time cannot ruin them. They are eternal. You can bank on His Word.
## Promise?