Hebrews 10:38
Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
God’s direction is always a forward direction because the forward direction is a faith direction. Any direction that is not forward is a direction that is not of faith. Now what may seem strange to many is that the forward direction is to continue walking on the same paths of those from the past. Hebrews 11 makes it clear that those from the past lived lives of faith, and Hebrews 12 shows that they rely on us to continue to walk down the same paths of faith that they have trodden upon to complete their race.
God says that if any man draw back that His soul shall have no pleasure in him. To draw back is to change directions. To draw back is to pull back from what you used to do. To draw back is to do less of what those in the past did. To draw back is to do less than what you used to do. Anything less than doing more than what you used to do for God is to do something that brings no pleasure to God. God seeks for His children to do more than what those in the past have done. God seeks for His children not to back up in their Christian walk, but to do more in their Christian walk. To draw back is simply to either stay where you are or to do less than what you are doing instead of pushing forward for the LORD. Let me share some truths about this critical principle.
First, it is not my position to define the race; it is my responsibility to continue the race set before us. We are running on holy ground when we continue the race that others before us have run. Anyone who wants to create their “first of a kind” type of race is revealing their pride, in that, they feel they are better than God and those who have run before them. Oh, they may sound spiritual when they talk about being the first of their kind, but they are the most unspiritual of people because I am not to be a first-of-my-kind, but a continuation on the race that is set before me.
Second, you cannot do more if you don't build upon the past. My job is not to criticize or minimize the faith works of the past, but to build upon them. Only the fool will try to minimize the past to forge a “first of their kind” type of work. God is not interested in people doing a first-of-their-kind type of work, but He is interested in people continuing the race that is set before us. It is not our job to be a “first of their kind” in the race, but it is our job to continue the race that others before us have set. You cannot go forward in the race by leaving the race to create a first-of-my-kind type of church or Christianity.
Third, to do less than those before me is to displease God. We are not to draw back in our soul winning, but we are to do more soul winning. We are not to draw back in building our churches, but we are to do more church building than those in the past. We are not to do fewer bus routes, but we are to do more bus routes than those in the past. If we got busy studying the past to find out what to build upon, we would find that God would be pleased to put His mighty power upon us.
Let me ask: are you doing less or more than what you used to do for God? Are you doing less or more than those in the past have done? Anything less than more is to displease the LORD. Never become comfortable with what you have done, but challenge yourself and compete with yourself to do more for God so that your life can please Him.