Three things we have to face everyday....
Our past....
Today....
Tomorrow....
Unless we have a change of heart, that can only come through the work of the Holy Spirit, We will keep repeating the same mistakes, even if we don't want to.
How can I say that?
Because unless we deal with our past....take our Step #4 inventories....we will always be governed by shame and guilt. These two toxic emotions are the very thing that holds us in the grip of our addiction. We allow the past to define us. We allow our past to color and tint everything that happens today. And when today is filled with failure and "what's the use!" then there isn't any future. We don't want to look at tomorrow because we know how it will turn out.
The apostle Paul kind of nailed all this "past / present / future" thing when he wrote Philippians. He begins in Chapter 3, verse 12 addressing the need for taking care of today.
"Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected (His behavior or performance) but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me."
Paul has a healthy inventory of himself. He admits that He has not reach the pinnacle or summit of life yet. He knows that his actions and behavior are still a work in progress, because his heart is being transformed daily as he allows the Holy Spirit to change his heart, his nature, and his character. How can Paul have such a view with the past he carried around? Easy. We find out his secret in Verse 13.
"Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind (past) and reaching forward to those things which are already...."
Think about Paul's past....
He was a hot-shot in the Jewish Temple circles. He was a Pharisee...big time enforcer of the rule-keeping bunch. Paul had a mad-on for anyone connected with Jesus, so he went about locking up people in jail for following Jesus' teaching. He had people killed. Families were destroyed because of Paul, and now here he is following Jesus himself. Do you think maybe Paul had nightmares about the people he had killed? Do you think the devil and his bunch used Paul's past to derail his efforts to tell of what Jesus had done to him?
When we read in this Philippians passage that Paul "Forgot About His Past", what he is really saying is, "I have dealt with my past!" Paul confessed, repented and received forgiveness for what he'd done. It was no longer a point of contention in his life. Paul was just crazy enough to believe that if you confess your sins.....then God is faithful and just to forgive you....and as a bonus, cleanse you from all (an what falls under "all"?") your unrighteousness. Paul was no longer moving forward trapped in the prison of his past.
Then in verse 14 Paul sets his sights on his future. We read "I press toward the goal for the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Paul is saying, "There will be obstacles and days when the effort to move forward will be hard, but I am pressing on...I am moving forward....I have a goal to reach....I want to run the race before me and be able to stand before Jesus upon my death...and hear Him say, "Well done my good and faithful servant."
That Paul was pretty slick, was he not?
So, bottom line, don't let your past define who you are today.
Don't let your today keep you from who God desires you to be tomorrow.
Think on this...
God on you...
mbb
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