Finding Hope when We Look in the Rearview Mirror of our Lives (Pt.1)
6 04 2015
Hello, my name is Ron Perry, and I have a past. My past consists of both good things and bad things. The mysterious difficulty of my past (and your past) is that the good things seem easy to forget and the bad things seem to be unforgettable. The good things in our lives are all a gift of God (Ecclesiastes 3:13; James 1:17). God has graciously sprinkled our lives with wonderful things and experiences, but they seem to quickly hide behind the bad memories. The bad things in our past all fall into one of two categories.
1. Past sinful actions that I have done.
2. Painful circumstances caused by the hands of others.
These bad things are hard to forget! It seems to only take a song, smell, or statement; and a flood of those bad memories flow back into our minds.
That past, whether good or bad, affects our present day lives. One Christian author defines the past as “the accumulation of events, choices, responses, habits, attitudes, desires, feelings and beliefs that frame the patterns, interpretations, and routines of our lives today.”
Our past is powerful! People fill pastors’ offices and counseling couches trying to figure out how to handle their bad past. It is imperative that we learn how to respond right to our past, and the Bible teaches that it is possible to do this. I’m going to take the next few posts and use this forum to help us respond right to our past. I’m calling this series “Finding Hope when We Look in the Rearview Mirror of our Lives.”
I’m looking forward to presenting some helpful truths to each of you. Your past–the sin and the suffering–does not have to be an unbearable burden that is always weighing you down! God provides perspective and power to move beyond that!
