We all have a past. Some of us long for parts of our past because they are more pleasant, comforting, or glorious than the present. And some of us regret parts of our past because of the mistakes we've made and sins we have sown. Most of us probably have a mixture of longing and regret, but every moment we spend in the past keeps us from moving forward.
The past is behind us, what has been now is gone
But right now is with us, and we must carry on
And when regret closes in
I don't see what might have been
I see grace and I know whatever comes
He'll make a way
We all know what would happen if we tried to drive our car without looking ahead to where we are going. We'd be an accident waiting to happen if we spent all our time staring in the rearview mirror.
The same can be true with life: too much time looking back will ruin our present and steal our future. Looking back can be beneficial only if we do it for the right reasons: to remind us where we've been and still would be if not for God's grace. To remind us that God in His mercy and love has saved us from sin. To remind us of God's enduring faithfulness to keep His Word.
The same can be true with life: too much time looking back will ruin our present and steal our future. Looking back can be beneficial only if we do it for the right reasons: to remind us where we've been and still would be if not for God's grace. To remind us that God in His mercy and love has saved us from sin. To remind us of God's enduring faithfulness to keep His Word.
Our sins lie behind us,
All the weeds we have sown
How well they remind us,
what we are on our own
But we are not on our own
God never leaves us alone
All our sins are forgiven
Everyday we get to choose
You might spend your days thinking of your past successes, using the memories as motivation or a way to make you feel good about yourself. Or you might spend your time thinking of past opportunities, remembering how good life was "way back when." Or you might spend your time thinking of all the ways you've fallen, allowing your sins to eat you alive.
If we want to move forward in life and in the plan God has for us, we have to let the past go. In reality, it's already gone. Right now is all we have.
If we want to move forward in life and in the plan God has for us, we have to let the past go. In reality, it's already gone. Right now is all we have.
This time
This is what counts
This is what our life is about
This time
No backwards glance
Now is the time
This is our chance
To make this time, this time, this time
All that God wants it to be
How do we let go of the past? We surrender it to God. We choose to lay it down as on an altar. We offer the whole of it to God---mistakes, glories, good times and bad. We ask God to forgive us, knowing that He will...not for any atoning we can make but simply because of what Jesus has already done. When we surrender our total being to God (even the secret things of our heart), He is then able to create in us what He planned from the beginning. Then our days will be a delight to us, and our future will be as bright as we've longed for it to be.
[Words in white print are from the song "This Time" by David Meece & Michael Hudson/Music by David Meece/Copyright 1989 Meece Music (admin by) WORD Music & Ariose Music]
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