Editorial: Don’t rush past yesterday

This editorial will be a bit meta, as the kids say. It will be about what news and opinion is—a reflection on where we’ve been. Reflecting on reflecting is the “meta” part.

The days are full and fast. Yesterday’s gone. Tomorrow’s a breath away. The news cycle churns.

What are we doing with the time we hold in our hands like sand? What are we doing with the present?

Some of us are adding to the churn. There’s work to be done. If the present is all we really have, there’s urgency. We have to keep moving, stay busy.

Some of us hard drivers think of Scripture like Ecclesiastes 3—a time and a season for everything—and Psalm 1 or 119—meditating day and night—as applying to other people or as something we can do on the fly.

But does it? Can we? Do we?

Yesterday may be gone, but its importance is still alive and well, informing our today and tomorrow. We must not rush past yesterday.

We must give space and time to reflection, but reflection with a purpose.

Biblical history

As Bible-believing, Bible-preaching people—who also should be Bible-reading, Bible-studying people—the idea of reflecting on the past should not be a problem for us. That’s what the Bible is—reflection with a purpose.

Part of the Bible’s authority is its record of God’s interaction in human history. We are supposed to learn from that record and shape our lives by it. At least, that’s what we say we believe we should do with the Bible.

Yet, how much of our present do we give to learning and being shaped … by Scripture? We give plenty to being shaped by the world. So much of what we do is evidence of that.

Reflect on this: How many people do you know who quit attending worship because of the music or something the pastor said? You might be one of them.

While you reflect on that, take a look at this story of church leaders in the Democratic Republic of Congo trekking as much as 45 miles a week through deep mud just to copy a portion of Scripture to take back to their churches for Sunday worship.

Whose attitude and behavior yesterday best prepare them for tomorrow? This is the purpose of reflection.

I tell you, we must not rush past yesterday.

Reflecting on history

Part of what’s behind this editorial is my reading of Ukrainian history over the last couple of weeks. I’m trying to have better grasp of what informs Ukraine’s present. It’s a complicated history, and learning just how complicated it is has opened helpful windows of understanding.

We owe it to our brothers and sisters in Ukraine and elsewhere to understand more about their history, particularly as they face current hardship and especially as we take steps to come alongside them in their suffering.

Also, part of what’s behind this editorial is my reflecting on the business sessions of the 2025 Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting.

I’m not equating the situation in Ukraine with anything in the BGCT, though both have complicated and contested histories.

The vote for BGCT president and the vote on a motion to investigate Baylor University were close. In fact, the vote on the Baylor motion was very close. BGCT leadership—and the rest of us—need to reflect on why. There is important information for who the BGCT is and where the BGCT is going in that reflection.

BGCT reflection

Since there’s no real campaign for BGCT president, we don’t know why people voted for either Debbie Potter or Kevin Burrow. We do know of the 750 votes counted, 57 percent were for Potter and 43 percent were for Burrow. That’s pretty close. And worth reflection.

The vote on the Baylor motion was even closer. After a raised-ballot vote was too close to call, messengers were asked to stand and raise their ballots to vote. From my front-and-center seat, the standing ballot vote looked just as close, but I could not see the room as completely as could those on the platform. They ruled the opposition carried, and the motion failed.

I’m not calling into question the determination of the chair. I am saying when a vote is that close, we do well to try to understand why and to learn from it.

Votes are important. They provide us important information about who we are, where we’ve been and where we’re going. We ought to reflect on votes and their outcomes. This is all the more true when votes are very close.

Those in favor of the motion to investigate Baylor represented a fairly broad spectrum of messengers to the 2025 BGCT annual meeting. The previous day, very few of them voted in favor of a motion to defund Baylor. What tipped the balance so much between the two Baylor votes, and what does that indicate for the BGCT as a whole? That’s worth reflection.

I don’t know the answers with certainty, but I guarantee they are connected to our history.

Those who lead the BGCT shouldn’t rush past November.

Reflecting forward

Some of us reflect to a fault. We go beyond reflection to rumination. We get stuck in the past, try to live in the past. We live out the opposite side of Ecclesiastes 3 from the hard drivers. We don’t move forward. Forgetting about the future, we’re not even in the present.

Our reflecting on the past must move us toward the future. And a more productive future, at that.

As people of the Bible—shaped by the Bible—this should be second nature. After all, Israel’s past and biblical reflection on it all pointed forward to Jesus. From there, all reflection points forward to the restoration of all things in him. Yes, reflection has a purpose.

Advent is a season of reflective anticipation. Or it’s supposed to be. How much reflection are you doing this December? Me? It’s hard to do much reflection in such cluttered times. But I must give space and time to reflect on the necessary things in a forward direction.

Don’t rush past yesterday. Notice it. Reflect on it. Learn from it. Grow from it. It points to our future.

Eric Black is the executive director, publisher and editor of the Baptist Standard. He can be reached at eric.black@baptiststandard.com. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.