THOSE WHO CANNOT FORGET WHAT THEY HAVE
DONE TO OTHERS
Did you know that when the ancient Persians
found a man guilty of murder, they punished him by strapping the corpse of his
victim to his back? What a picture! The weight of it dragged him down, the
presence of it constantly tormented him, the sight and smell of it drove others
away and it eventually robbed him of his life.
That’s the picture Paul had in mind when he wrote “who will rescue me
from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24 NIV). You can no more live with the dead
things of your past clinging to you than Paul could! This therefore, is why you
need the power of God to cut the cord and burn the bridges between you and our
past, whether past failure or past relationships. Don’t walk around with them
on your back or on your mind. Nothing is heavier than bitterness. It can:
Ø Drag you down and turn living into merely
existing.
Ø Cause you to leave a bad smell wherever
you go. Even those who love you in will become exhausted and leave, or confront
you and say “get over it”.
Ø Destroy every new relationship God wants
to bring into your life. After all, who wants a person that’s having an affair
with a corpse? You’d only be using the new, as anti-depressant to numb the pain
of the old.
Ø Shorten your life because you weren’t
built to carry it. Cry if you need to, but when the grieving is over, bury it
and move on. Cut it loose!
It might be difficult because you might say “I can’t help but remember.”
Oh yes you can! Paul the Apostle said in Philippians 3:13 “this one thing I do,
forgetting those things which are behind…”
He chose to forget and you can do the
same. It may be hard but our Lord Jesus didn’t say all things are easy but all
things are possible (Mark 9:23)! In all of God’s promises to you, is the
potential to see it fulfilled. Contained in every command he gives you, is the
power to carry it out. God has given us promises thus:
Ø “Fear not, for you will not be put to
shame; neither feel humiliated, for you will not be disgraced. But you will
forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach…you will remember no more”
(Isaiah 54:4 NAS).
Ø “Do not call to mind the former things,
or ponder the things of the past. Behold I will do something new, now it will
spring forth. Will you not be aware of it! I will even make a roadway in the
wilderness[and] rivers in the dessert” (Isaiah 43:17-11119 NAS)
Ø “The former things shall not be
remembered or come into mind…be glad and rejoice forever in that which I
create” Isaiah 65:17-18 NAS).
God can create order out of chaos, and beauty out of ashes. He can help
you find purpose in the middle of the pain. You may be saying “Aren’t those
verses from all from the Old Testament?” Yes, but “He always does exactly what
He says. He carries out and fulfills all God’s promises no matter how many of
them there are” (2 Corinthians 1;19-20 LB).
He is the one that said “behold I will create new heavens and earth, and
the former things shall not be remembered nor come into mind”, stands ready to
do two things for you: Create peace in the midst of your storm, heal the
painful memories that keep you chained to the past.
Today, you may be down, but you don’t
have to stay there!
Your feelings should follow not lead.
Consult your will, not your emotions. It only takes a small act of courage to
start but a big daily dose of it to keep going, because sometimes you’ll feel
like quitting a thousand times before u get to the top. Also where does such
tenacity come from? It comes from three things: the relationships you form, the
books you read and the time you spend with God.
The Bible says
“who, for the joy that was set before him, endured…”(Hebrews 12:2 KJV). What is
it that enables you to endure painful struggles and rise above discouragement
and setbacks? It is the joy of knowing that day by day you’re getting closer to
your goal, the goal of taking back your life and becoming what God wants you to
be.
No comments:
Post a Comment