Eliminating the Past

Do you ever struggle with past failures? Do you wish you could suck those spoken words back into your mouth? Are there memories that seem to haunt you when you try to move forward? This is probably true for most of us. Paul had a number of past actions he wanted to keep in the past. In his letter to the Philippians he writes, "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:13-14). When you look at the context Paul includes a lot of things that have nothing to do with failure. They are things about his ancestry, his family line, a Pharisee, as to pursuing keeping the Law, blameless. They are about his education and accomplishments, the only sin mentioned is his persecution of the Messianic assemblies. Not that Paul's failures did not weigh on his mind from time to time. He does not refer to himself as, "the Chief of sinners", in 1 Timothy 1:15, for no reason at all.

God does not want us to live in the past. Old things are to pass away and all things are become new, (2 Corinthians 5:17). If we live in our accomplishments we can become proud, arrogant, and not strive to move forward in our relationship with Christ. If we live in our short comings then life is constricted by guilt and failure and we feel worthless and unworthy to serve the Lord. Either way we are crippled and ineffective with caring for the responsibilities God places in our hands. So the Apostle Paul says, let it go and keep pressing on toward that upward call in Christ Jesus. Onward and upward with the Lord.

This is all certainly true and should be applied to our lives so we have the opportunity to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord. However, I do not think that Paul, or the Lord, is calling us to historic amnesia. God designed everything to flow in a cycle. Days, seasons, planting and harvest, as well as life itself, follows more of a reoccurring cycle than a linear progression of unrelated events. We realize true repentance, the turning away from a sinful behavior, only when a similar opportunity to sin returns and we have victory. History and our past is not to be eliminated but rather, learned from. If Paul's intent was that God wanted us to fully forget the past we would have a very abbreviated Bible. If we removed every failure and every success from the Scriptures we would be left with a rule book with no examples as how to put them into practice. God determined to reveal Himself through relationships with people and peoples relationships with one another. This gives us examples, instruction, and hope knowing God has been using imperfect failures to advance His Kingdom for generations.

Abraham believed God, was willing to offer Isaac, and lied about Sarah being his wife. Issac preferred the son who was not of the promised line while Jacob wrestled with God and prevailed but deceived his father, with the help of his mother. Moses is a friend of God, leads god's people out of bondage, kills the Egyptian, refuses to speak to Pharaoh, and strikes the rock. David defeats Goliath and commit adultery and murder. Solomon asks for wisdom and introduces idolatry to God's people. Peter denies and then becomes a foundation stone for the Messianic community. James mocks Jesus when the Lord has His earthly ministry and then becomes the head of the church in Jerusalem. Not to leave the women out, Rahab was a prostitute who believes God and ends up in the line of Messiah. Ruth a Moabite, a non Jew, who cares for her Jewish mother in law, is David's great grandmother. Mary of Magdala was possessed by demons but came to be the Lord's treasured servant. The entire history of God's people is one of failure and redemption. Virtually every book in the Bible deals with people not getting along. Even tiny books like 2nd and 3rd John deal with relational issues. If we are honest, the record God gives us is not very pretty. However, it is remarkably helpful.

There is a movement within the American culture to remove and eliminate reminders of past failures and the record of men and women who were flawed. We find something distasteful about their character and conclude that who they were and what they accomplished should not be remembered. History of any people is not a record of pure and blameless people. It is a record of flawed men and women who lived and worked to build a nation. Their examples are there to learn from, not to worship or emulate in every aspect. After giving us a historic list of remarkable, yet broken, people from the historic past, the writer of Hebrews begins Chapter 12 with, "Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us." In other words, let us learn from their lives, avoid the sin they fought with, and run with endurance, for the road is long and fret with dangers. They bear witness to the power and grace of a God Who uses broken stones to build His Kingdom.

Our history, likewise, surrounds us with a great cloud of witnesses who built a nation and learned as they went. Not unlike England or France or China, or South Africa. Every nation has its damaged heroes and grievances that should not be repeated or perpetuated. Reliving the past is no way to live going forward. Ignoring the past or burying it along with those who lived it will invite us to perpetuate the same errors and acts of intolerance. If we fail to learn or determine to hide the truth, as ugly as it may be or as uncomfortable as it might make us feel, will simply give us the opportunity to relive it once again until we learn the lessons God has for us.