“Brothers and Sisters, I know that I have not yet reached that goal, but there is one thing I always do. Forgetting the past and straining toward what is ahead.” –Paul the Apostle

The “one thing” Paul encourages us all to do is “forget the past”. Of course no one can ever completely forget their past. There is always a memory that lingers. If anyone had a past they needed to forget it was Paul, who prior to his conversion to Christ was a Christ-hater and persecutor of Christians. Many early believers were either killed or imprisoned due to Paul’s efforts. He considered himself the “chief of sinners”. Yet, he learned how to let go of the past through the power of Christ.

Do you have things in your past you need to let go of? Your future cannot be fully embraced until aspects of your past are released. It’s hard to forget the past because we forget to forget. Here are five helpful thoughts to consider.
1. Acknowledge your past. It can’t be changed. Learn from it.
2. Live for the present. Begin applying your heart to wisdom so that you can number your days and make your remaining days better. The past is written. The future is unwritten.
3. Learn the lesson from the past, or you’ll have to take the class again.
4. Forgive. Forgiveness releases us from our past. Receive it from God and give it to others and yourself.
5. Process your past. This can only be done with the help of God and a trusted confidant. Follow King David’s example he wrote the book of Psalms, which reads like a life journal to God.

In our weekend services will be talking more about this subject.

Just a thought,
Carl

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 20th, 2011 at 1:40 pm and is filed under Weekly Devotional. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.