Have you made peace with your past? If you have, I am happy for you. But if you are still beating yourself up about your past you must move on. How can you ? By accepting what has been and trusting God for what is in your future.
Since you and I are only human, we are usually slow to forget our challenges, hurts, and mistakes of the past. But if you and I truly want to live a fulfilled life we have to leave the past with God and move foward in life.
The apostle Paul puts it this way in Philippians 3:13-14, " One thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."
You may think to yourself, well that is easy for him to say he is the apostle Paul. But before he was the apostle Paul he was known as Saul of Taursus. He used to consent to the killing of Christians. In fact, he was on his way to arrest some Christians when he had his conversion (Acts 9). He could have beaten himself up about his past but he moved on with his life and became what God had planned for his life. Moses in the Old Testament is another example of someone who murdered someone before he became known as a powerful person for God (Exodus 2). One final example would be King David of Israel. He was known as a man after God's own heart. He was the greatest king of Israel. Yet in the middle of his reign he committed adultery with a woman. She eventually became pregnant and David had her husband killed in battle (2 Samuel 11). This wasn't a man who didn't know God. This was a person who followed God and still blew it. Yet when you read of Jesus' human lineage it was through this man that Jesus was born.
Yes these people had to live with the consequences of their mistakes, just like you and I do. But they did not let their past keep them from moving foward with their lives. You would be surprised by all the people who I talk to who seem to not to be able to move on with their past and still beat themselves up over something that could have happened 20 years ago. Listen, everyone has blown it at some time in their life. We have all done things we wish we wouldn't have. None of us are perfect. I know it's not easy to move on sometimes, but God doesn't want us to beat ourselves up over our past. We need to confess the wrong to Him. Ask for His forgiveness and then accept His forgiveness.
A. R. Bernard says,"Don't let your future be held captive by your past." So today come to peace with your past. When you do , then you can begin to position your thoughts toward your future and the wonderful plans God has in store for you.
Troy
Great blog, Troy. Pastor Dan just talked about something similar to this on Sunday. Also, didn't know you had a blog. Look forward to following it!
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I don't know if anyone wants to try this but it worked for me. I shut myself in my room when the house was quiet. Sat on my bed with pen and a pad of paper. Started writing things down that were bothering me. While I was writing I closed my eyes and just wrote what was feeling. I guess in a way, it was like just writing down my prayers to God. But I was crying and just writing,not caring where my words were going on the paper, just letting everything out to God. When it was over, I felt like I had truly been forgiven. My heart was unburdened by past failures, misdeeds, and heartaches. That is just one experience that I have had in my life, that lets me know that God is with me and a part of my life. I hope anyone who feels burdened down will try this. Like I said, it worked for me:)
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