Looking to the Past (Blog #43)

Whenever any of us takes a nostalgic trip down memory lane, we need to be careful not to gloss over the imperfections and transgressions of the past in an attempt to idolize the past and create an illusion of what was but is no longer. It is good to hold on to fond memories of another time in our lives. At the same time, to consistently long for what once was is to set oneself up for possible heartache and disappointment.

Most people, in one way or another, typically hope that our current situation and the future will be an improvement or a step forward in our lives compared to our past. The moment that you or I stop growing in this life is the moment we stop living. We may be breathing and functioning but are we really living? There is a danger of becoming so thoroughly entrenched in our past that we become stagnant and unable to moved forward in our lives.

As a Christian pastor, I encouraged believers not to lose focus of what lay ahead. "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." [Philippians 3:12-14 NIV]

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him who have been called according to his purpose...

"What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

"...No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." [Romans 8:28;31-35;37-39]

~ DB Turnmire