Reliving Your Past!
Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 3:13-14 niv
Have you ever been tripped up because of past failures? Those things in your past that you wish you could just forget about, the stupid mistakes of adolescents or young single adulthood. Sometimes, they just creep up out of nowhere and blindside you!
If anyone had a past to be ashamed of it was the Apostle Paul, who wrote the book of Philippians and half of the New Testament. He hated Jesus Christ, hated his followers, hated his church, and sent many Christians to their death. I don’t think you could get any more opposed to God that Paul was at that point in his life.
When Paul accepted Jesus Christ he made a radical transformation and his life was changed forever, never to return to his ways of hating God again. But what about his past, how did he overcome all the pain that he had caused in other peoples lives, how did he look at himself?
This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”––and I am the worst of them all. But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life. – 1 Timothy 1:15-16
Basically he says, If God can save me…God can save anyone! Instead of allowing his past to trip him up and derail him from following God passionately, he used it as an example to help other realize that God can forgive them too!
So, as your going through this week and your past starts sneaking up behind you, tell it to “Stay in the Past!” Because it’s been forgiven…
