Kadima

Photo Credit: Joshua Earle.

Kadima is a Hebrew word which means forward.  It implies a sense of movement and action.  I believe that should be our posture and our goal having entered 2017.  Very often at the beginning of a new year, time is spent reflecting and looking back over the previous year, often with a sense of melancholy.  Sometimes we look back with regret over the mistakes we have made, people we have hurt and plans on which we have never followed through and think that we have just completely blown it and that God is angry with us and sitting on high with the sword of Damocles hanging over our heads ready to pounce on us at any given moment. 

Yes, God is disappointed with us when we don’t live or make decisions based on His Word but He is not angry with us.  He loves us and doesn’t want us to become paralyzed with fear, shame and regret or wallow in self-pity and doubt because we have made mistakes.  He wants us to learn from them, grow from them and move on.  Because we can’t move on to the next chapter of our lives if we keep reading and re-reading the previous one. 

One of the beautiful things about being blessed to enter a new year is that it’s kind of like a do-over.  You can reset your clock, drop the excess baggage of the previous year, move forward, and don’t look back because it only slows you down.  Hebrews 12:1 encourages us to lay aside those things that can entrap us because we have a race to run and races are never run backward.  Remember what Paul wrote in the third chapter of Philippians, forget those things behind us and reach for what’s ahead.  Because whatever God has for you isn’t back there.  Your destiny is always in front of you. 

So, if feelings of regret have been holding you hostage, allow God to help you break free of it.  Our Heavenly Father loves us so much that He meets us where we are, but He also loves us enough that He won’t allow us to stay there if moving forward is what we want to do.  My pastor Dr. Dharius Daniels teaches us that God will allow us to live at whatever level and in whatever stage we choose.  So, I encourage you to move forward in God and let “Kadima” be your battle cry as you go.