Moving on... It's easy to dwell on past things that you've done. Things that have happened, words spoken, things you wish you could change... But it's all in the past. You can't change what has already been. Time, once gone, is gone forever. To regret and have sorrow over things you've done in the past is only normal, but we should get over it. It's time to move on and do great things for God with our lives.
To repent means to stop, turn and don't go back. If you have repented, and you're not going back... why dwell on things in the past? Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14
Let's just think about Paul for a minute. Paul wrote many books of the Bible, including Philippians. What was Paul before God converted him? He was a Pharisee. He persecuted the Christians! He had the coats of the men stoning Stephen at his feet as he looked on. Could you imagine having to live with that? Living with having Stephen, the great martyr, stoned? While you looked on and approved. What shame. What reproach. It wasn't just Stephen either... he had many Christians put to death or thrown into prison. And yet, it is Paul that says "...forgetting those things with are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before."
What if Paul hadn't forgotten? What if he let the wickedness of his past deeds eat on him and prevent him from moving on in his life? What good would that have done him? I'm sure he wouldn't have written the many books that he did. I'm sure he wouldn't have led all those people to the Lord. Yet Paul did not sit around and wonder why it was him. Why it had to be him that was raised a Pharisee. Why it had to be him that had Christians imprisoned... Why do we do this to ourselves?
Bless God for the time he's given us to allow us to grow, and then move on. God has a better plan for our life than we can even imagine. Let him have his will. Follow him, and don't look back.
To repent means to stop, turn and don't go back. If you have repented, and you're not going back... why dwell on things in the past? Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14
Let's just think about Paul for a minute. Paul wrote many books of the Bible, including Philippians. What was Paul before God converted him? He was a Pharisee. He persecuted the Christians! He had the coats of the men stoning Stephen at his feet as he looked on. Could you imagine having to live with that? Living with having Stephen, the great martyr, stoned? While you looked on and approved. What shame. What reproach. It wasn't just Stephen either... he had many Christians put to death or thrown into prison. And yet, it is Paul that says "...forgetting those things with are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before."
What if Paul hadn't forgotten? What if he let the wickedness of his past deeds eat on him and prevent him from moving on in his life? What good would that have done him? I'm sure he wouldn't have written the many books that he did. I'm sure he wouldn't have led all those people to the Lord. Yet Paul did not sit around and wonder why it was him. Why it had to be him that was raised a Pharisee. Why it had to be him that had Christians imprisoned... Why do we do this to ourselves?
Bless God for the time he's given us to allow us to grow, and then move on. God has a better plan for our life than we can even imagine. Let him have his will. Follow him, and don't look back.
No comments:
Post a Comment