Forgetting what was left behind!
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To Whom it May Concern!!!
There are things that happen in life that we would like to forget forever. On many occasions the past hits us hard and we wish with all our soul, that it would be erased from our minds.
Some people never talk about their past and the logical and normal thing is that their friends and acquaintances would like to know who they were, where they were from, who their families were; in short, how was their trajectory until we met them.
The apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians 3:13 telling them that to continue until reaching the goal and thus reach the perfect man, whom he had not yet reached and to do so he had to: "Forget indeed, what is left behind and reaching out to what lies ahead, I press toward the goal, for the prize of the upward call of God, in Christ Jesus."
The apostle was right, he could not lean on, not even remember his past life; he had persecuted the Church, he was at Stephen's death and more than that, he had to hear from the lips of the Lord himself these words: "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"
There is a popular saying that says: "We should not look back or to gain momentum." Perhaps there are brilliant pasts in life, but that is not going to give us credit for the future that we have to go through.
We cannot sit on past laurels; each day, each week, each month, and each year brings new challenges, new experiences, new demands, etc., etc. We have to rely on the present, on the strength and power of God that helps us now, in the moment we are living, to win the future.
We have to project ourselves to achieve our goals. Like the athlete who runs, we cannot look back because that way we will never reach the goal.
The faith and hope that we have now will project us forward, let us then say: "If God is with us, who can be against us?" Although we have many lost battles in the past, the war has not yet been lost. We haven't reached the goal yet, but the race isn't over, let's keep going!
The life that honors God is that of the one who fights against the world, the flesh and the devil and wins in the name of Jesus, because through his shed blood we will obtain victory, and the glory will be for Jesus.
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Thought this might appeal to you; an except from an online article written by a Christian, the excerpt being about the Old Testament which is what I follow. Yet the message is basically the same; that spending too much time dwelling on the past keeps you stuck and therefore, unable to serve God in the way you are intended to.
"The story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah recorded in Genesis 19 has perhaps the most graphic of all warnings about the dangers of looking back. Lot and his wife are told by God to escape from their city because God is about to destroy it. “Flee for your life – and don’t look back,” say the angels (19:17). So Lot and his wife run away, but as the city is being destroyed, Lot’s wife looks back and is turned into a pillar of salt. It’s a very strange story, but a powerful image.
The Hebrew word used here for “look back” does not mean glancing over her shoulder, but rather, paying attention to, looking wistfully, with yearning. Lot’s wife stopped and looked back at her past life with longing and nostalgia instead of hurrying on to what lay ahead, as the Lord had urged her.
The trouble with nostalgia, and why it can be such a challenge to the life of faith, is that it is not usually real or true. What we remember nostalgically is usually a distortion. We do not always remember that which really was. Think of the children of Israel on their long, hard journey across the wilderness toward the Promised Land. Life was so tough for them that they started getting very nostalgic for the “good old days” – life back in Egypt. “We remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt for nothing: the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions and the garlic. There’s nothing here except this ‘manna’ to look at!” (Num 11:5). But they conveniently forgot in their nostalgia that in Egypt they were slaves, and brutalized by their Egyptian taskmasters."
https://www.ssje.org/2013/09/11/dont-look-back-br-geoffrey-tristram-2/
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Yes dear very true, perhaps my way of seeing it and that is why I put this article, is that we have an almighty God who loves us so much that he warns us of what we can find if we look back. It is not always about the belongings we have or lost like that of a loved one. Like for example: seeing him as the God who loved us and loves us because he shows us that leaving everything behind, we find the future that he has for his children, that is, a beginning. There are people who suffer because they don't see purpose in their lives, and they don't let go of the only thing they have, the past. But God does have beautiful things in his word:
Jeremiah 29
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.
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@eco-art Interestingly, I was reading a book last night about a man who lost everything in a fire. He and his wife decided to pray on it and he came away believing that God has cleared his life for something greater. He was "stuck" at the time, surrounded by possessions that represented his personal history; his past. I sincerely hope God never does that to me -- or anyone -- and I keep the past in my heart as I keep my eyes on the blessings of today and what I want my future to be. You are a deep soul! Bless you!
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@funkyjunkygypsy
Blessings dear!!!! God is good! He loves you so much..