Past......

Today in our bible study we spoke about our past.  This really hit home for me.  I often think of the mistakes I have made in my past and whether or not I have learned or been forgiven of them.  Am I still living in the past?  Have I learned and moved forward?  Have I forgiven and forgotten or am I still stuck in unforgiveness.

Our past is our history...if we don't learn from our past then it will repeat itself.  I, for one, don't need to repeat my many mistakes.  Do you?  The past is not where we are to live, but where we should learn.  I have had friends that hold on so tightly to their pasts that it totally defines them, they live it out day to day and this breaks my heart.  The patterns keep repeating themselves over and over.  Their children, though young, hold onto these truths that they have been taught at such a young age.  I agree that we must learn from our past, but living it day to day is not good for anyone.  God actually calls us to put it behind us.

Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 3:13-14

We must trust God to do the things He has said.  He can and will restore us, if only we would seek Him first.  If we don't choose to leave the past behind, what will we teach the next generations?  The pattern of living in the past and holding onto it will continue unless we choose to break it now!  My past is not who I am today....my past is behind me, I am grateful for the Saving Grace of Jesus to have changed me!  Lord, I pray that you will continue to change me and mold me into your image, your calling upon my life.  May we not live in the past, but look to the wonderful future of praising you day after day.

"Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old.  Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?"  Isaiah 43:18-19