Why Look At My Past?

I was visiting with a friend recently and they asked, "if God's Word says, "Brothers, 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" Philippians 3:13 Then why do we take time to bring up our past and focus on it?" Great and valid question. The purpose of doing a moral inventory is not so we can wallow in it but to identify things from our past that may be holding us back. "Test me, O Lord , and try me, examine my heart and my mind" Psalms 26:2 "Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord." Lam3:40 "Throw off everything that hinders.." Heb 12:1 This process is about helping us learn where we have stuffed some unresolved stuff, face it, heal from it and allow our future to be different. When I bury my head in the sand and try to act like nothing happened in my past, then it lingers and becomes my future. Paul is telling us, that he doesn't have it all figured out but he is moving forward. Paul had to face the fact that he was once a Saul and did horrific things. God did some amazing things in his life as a new creature, with a new life and purpose. Moral inventory is hard, but so worth it. If you are in the middle of this right now, stick with it and keep pressing forward. This process is not about living in the past but moving forward to a better future as we "return to The Lord". Rodney Holmstrom

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