Leave the past in the past

The Past is gone!



Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 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 3:12-14  ESV




We all have a past.  We all have things we wish we hadn't done and things we wish we had done.  We cannot go back and change the past so we must strive not to live there.  God wants us to move on and to move forward with Him.  











Our pasts are what has made us who we are but if we don't like who we are, that is okay too because when we accept Christ into our hearts, we are made new creations.  So if you like who you are, great, you can move forward with your relationship with God.  If you don't like who you are, if you haven't accepted the Lord as your savior, do that and become a new creation.  If you are already a Christian and don't like who you are, you can still move on with your relationship with God and become who He wants you to be.








It is a win-win with God!  

















Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.  
                      2 Corinthians 5:17



There will always be times, even as Christians, when we  do stupid things.  There will be times when we don't like who we are and what we are doing or something we said or did and we will wish we could take it back.  








If we can make it right, we should, but otherwise, we need to ask God to forgive us and to help us so that it doesn't happen again.  We live in such a difficult world, surrounded by difficult, worldly people, and trying to keep up.  It is often overwhelming.   I believe that is why we must be still sometimes.   Many of us know the first part of this verse, but do we know the rest of it?












“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”  Psalms 46:10


This is the only way we can get through life on this earth.  If we just keep running day after day, doing the things that we think are important or that will make us better, we will make mistakes.  We will do and say things we are sorry for.










But if we take time regularly to be still, really still and just realize that God will be exalted in the earth,  we can put our past behind us and know that God will take care of what needs to be done, then we can take a breath and begin again, refreshed and with a cheerful heart. 



















“I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sin.  Isaiah 43:25


We are the ones who remember our own mistakes.  We are our worst critics.  We punish ourselves over and over again even after God has forgiven us.  Forgiving ourselves is much harder.  











When you find yourself dwelling on past mistakes, sins, wrong doings, and hurts, take time to be still with God,  ask Him to help you forgive yourself, make it right if you can, remember that you are a new creation in Christ, and try very hard to let it go.  Life is hard enough without us beating ourselves up.  You are loved.  You are worthy. You are forgiven. 















I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  Galatians 2:20



  


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