Good morning and welcome to Words of Encouragement. I pray that you are renewed and re-energized from the weekend and ready to move forward, and that these words will be an encouragement in your every-day-walking-around-kind-of-life. So the past has passed. Let us move forward in our walk with Jesus.
The past has certainly passed. There is much associated with the past. We need to let go of the past, but many hang on to the past. Some folks won’t let the past go. And if you are like me, others have to remind me of the past…is that an age thing?
The word past is associated with many phrases. A few of the phrases are, for example:
- can’t see past your nose
- don’t put it past them
- A blast from the past
- past caring about it
- a shady past
- a thing of the past
- <<put yours here>>
So how do we look past all of this? It’s a refocus; a paradigm shift; a renewal of the mind. Let’s take a look and see if we can get past this.
I Corinthians 10:11 TLB
All these things happened to them as examples—as object lessons to us—to warn us against doing the same things; they were written down so that we could read about them and learn from them in these last days as the world nears its end.
Can you learn from the past? Certainly! I remember with the business Carmen (my wife) and I owned and how much we learned from our mistakes. And sometimes we made the same mistakes more than once. We eventually made adjustments, applied what we had learned, then moved on from the mistakes and from falling short. Maybe you can relate to this whether it’s your business or job, your family or your own personal past.
Did I go to school for business? Yes, the school of hard knocks!
Now, as I consult with business owners, I can not only share Biblical principles and best practices related to the principles, but also things to avoid from the experience of my own mistakes.
Here are a few things to keep in mind in that the past has passed:
- you can’t do anything to change the past
- we need to operate in the present (that’s why it’s a gift)
- God is in the ever present tense (not past tense)
- What we do with the present either propels us into the future or keeps us stuck in a rut
- When we dwell (staying in one place – in a rut) on the past, we can’t move forward
- Gratitude propels us forward
- Do not dwell on regrets, what ifs, and mistakes of the past
So learn from the past, but don’t dwell there. Don’t stay stuck on the regrets, short-coming and mistakes of the past. Be grateful for where you are and what you have. This is the power, the gas, the energy, that will propel you forward.
The past has brought you to where you are today! We can either be thankful for it and move forward, or regret and continue to be stuck. I’ve been around enough to hear people say, “That’s it, that’s all the further you are in life?”
My mindset? I’m amazed that I am where I am. So I am thankful for what God has brought me through in spite of myself. He has brought me to this point and now here I am. And my focus is taking the next steps with Jesus right there with me.
If you hear that or feel the same, “This is all the further you are now?” Then do a reset today and begin moving forward. Don’t let your past or others keep you stuck!
Philippians 3:13 niv
Brothers and sisters, 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,
So keep your focus on the here and now, and what lays ahead. Remember, the old things (the shortcomings, the sin, falling short) are in the past.
2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
Psalm 103:12 CEV
How far has the LORD taken our sins from us? Farther than the distance from east to west!
Challenge of the day: Start every day, every meeting, every gathering with a thankful heart and a positive mindset. If there is something you need to let go of from the past, do it now! Speak it out right now and tell it you are done with it – it is in the past. Now set you mind on things from above – that which is right there with you in your every-day-walking-around-kind-of-life – (which is) Jesus! So be it!
