Have Trouble Getting Past Your Past?

I was scanning the radio stations the other day and came across some 80's music.  

All of a sudden "it" came out of nowhere - a Milli Vanilli song!!  (Some of you may be asking who Milli Vanilli is - no one knows!)

Who they are is not important - but as soon as I heard it my mind flashed back to June 1989, senior week at Myrtle Beach - a hotel room, lots of people...and lots and lots of sin going on.  

In that moment I felt an overwhelming sense of guilt and condemnation.  

Good grief!  Here I was over 20 years removed from that event - but the wave of accusations kept hitting me over and over again, having zero mercy on me.  

A few days later I happened to read something the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 3:13-14
Brothers and sisters, 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,  I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Paul said...

1 - I'm not there yet (which BLOWS MY MIND - this dude had healed people and raised them from the dead, yet he opens verse 13 with the reality that he had a next step!) 

But this next one got me...

2 - He said "one thing I do..."

Don't miss that - "one thing!!!" 

Then he says - forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on...

HOLD IT!!  

He said "one thing," but listed two things!!!  

I sat with my Bible opened, trying to figure this mystery out...then it hit me, "forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead" IS ONE THING!  

If I am looking behind (at my past) it takes my eyes off of my Savior and puts them on my sin - which will always result in feelings of guilt and condemnation. 

However, if I forget what is behind BY PUTTING MY EYES on what is ahead - then my spiritual journey becomes less about the regret of my past and more about the hope of my future!  

So - if you are having a tough time getting past your past...what I've learned is to not put my focus there - but to put my eyes on the One who paid for my sin and gave me an abundant life!!!  

Forgetting our past and straining towards what is ahead cannot be separated!

If you've confessed and repented of that sin then move on - because Christ has (Romans 8:1).

In Christ the potential of my future is greater than the pain of my past!! 

It's true for me...and it's true for you!