Nostalgia tempts me. During my 54 years on this earth I have enjoyed many blessings of the Lord. Bev and I visited Lancaster, PA over the weekend, staying at a resort we visited a few times when our kids were little. Walking through the area with the swimming pool that they loved to play in, I could almost hear echoes of their voices: “Daddy, look at me.” It was bittersweet to walk through a place that held so many good memories, but they are just that, memories; life has moved on. I am not suggesting that we should forget the past all together. It is the fertile soil from which the present grows, after all! However, the people who live most productive and emotionally healthy lives do not spend a lot of time looking back!
Like every living person I have my share of regrets that reside in yesterday. There are more than a few choices I made then with all sincerity that are now clearly wrong. But like Paul, my focus is not what was, but what is and what will be! My prayer is that God will show me how to live today as I advance toward tomorrow- be it here on earth or in His heaven! Remember Saul who became Paul?
In his early years as a Pharisee, he hated Believers in Christ and worked to destroy the Gospel message and those who followed Jesus. But God, in amazing grace, met him on the road to Damascus. Saul believed that day and was changed. The transformation was so profound, he even took a new name! Had he lived in perpetual regret, he might have faded into obscurity, making tents in some Roman town, sorrowful 'til death for his persecution of those who loved the Lord. Or, he might have settled down to pastor the church in Ephesus, where his message met with great success and tried to hold onto a moment of triumph. But, he didn't do either of those things. Why? He tells us. "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 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, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:12-14, NIV) He knew what he was called to do and kept at it – faithfully. He left the sins in the grace of God, celebrated the triumphs, and anticipated the glorious future.
That's the road God wants us to travel! We cannot, we must not, try to erase the past or to rewrite history. We cannot let nostalgia take us hostage. When we awaken each morning, our declaration is "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." (Psalm 118:24, NIV) We grow deeper in the things of the Lord as He shows us new challenges, new places for service, and presents us with new opportunities.
Disciple, in our youth we tend to live too much in the future. As we age, we are tempted more and more to live in the past. God works in the present! He is the Lord of this day. I leave you with this word from the Word, Jesus’ appeal to his friends to see what God was doing right now. “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest." (John 4:34-35, NIV)
What is ripe for harvest right now in your life? Are your eyes open to what the Spirit is doing today?
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Father, I confess that change is difficult.
In the familiar there is a certain comfort.
I slide easily back into the habits and patterns of my past.
Don’t let me spend too much time gazing back
with fondness or regret!
Make me aware of this day,
the day You have made just for me.
Keep my vision clear and help me to
engage myself in the process of 'becoming...' -
to invite an ongoing transformation
into the likeness of Jesus Christ.
I pray this in His holy Name. Amen.
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