Leave The Past Behind

Leave The Past Behind "But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:13-14 It is so easy to want to look back in life and see the mistakes we made, the things that have gone bad for us, and use these as an excuse to not move forward. If you want to run the race of life successfully, then don't look back. If you have ever run a race and looked over your shoulder to see what your competitor was doing, then you know that looking back can break your stride and ultimately cause you to lose the race. In the scripture above, Paul tells us not to look back on life, but keep our eyes focused on what lies ahead. You cannot allow the things that happened last week, last year or ten years ago affect you, and take your eyes off what lies ahead. When you accept Christ as your savior, your sins, no matter how bad they were, are forgiven; you start anew with a clean slate. God no longer holds your sins against you. Sometimes we want to dredge up the things God has forgiven and forgotten, which keeps us locked into our past routines and practices of sins. This is why we must forget the past.. The Lord says, "I will remember their sins no more" (Jeremiah 31:34). Yet many times we will bring past sins up, forgetting the fact that our God has a big eraser. Why should you choose to remember what God has chosen to forget? If God has forgiven and forgotten your sins, then you need to leave them behind also. You must learn from your mistakes, and not do them again, but then you must move forward. You can't change your past, but you can change your future when you accept God's gift of salvation. Robert W. Brock My Daily Devotional Volume Six October 8