Don't let the past rob you of the present!

Today is Pearl Harbor Day.  Most of us are too young to remember that infamous day but I imagine it felt a great deal like 9/11 for those of us who lived through that morning and its aftermath.  My guess is that just about every generation and every individual life will live through days that impact them emotionally.  The end of WWII, the assassination of MLK or JFK, and Neal Armstrong's "giant leap for mankind" are days that will forever be etched in the minds and hearts of those who lived through them.  

But here's my challenge for us today--let's not live in the past no matter whether it was good or bad.  Some days in our past may have blessed us beyond measure--our happiness meter was off the charts.  Other days may have scarred us and wounded us so profoundly that we wonder how we can even go on another day.  But here's what I know in my mind, my heart and by my experience; whatever the past, good or bad, it's behind you.  You can't erase it or change it--it is what it is.  We should learn from it but we should never live there.

Paul, writing to his good friends in Philippi says, "This one thing I do, I forget what lies behind."  He doesn't mean that he blocks it from his memory; instead what he means is that he doesn't let the past dictate his present.  Have you every known someone who is always reliving past victories?  They live in years gone by when they had a good day or a good season.  It seems they miss the present by always living in a better past day.  Or have you known someone who is always reliving the past trauma of a bad decision, failure or event?  I don't mean to minimize people's past traumas--I know they are real and terrible.  But they are in the past and if I live there, for whatever reason, I forfeit my future.

To live in the present, to forget what lies behind--good or bad, is a choice.  The only person who can make that choice for you is you.  Someone has said, "Wherever you are, be all there."  I think that means in the flow of time too--be all in the 'present.'  Choose this day to stop living in the past and invest in today.  Whoever you are, invest in your friends, in people.  Don't let the past rob you of the most precious possession you have this actual day--relationships.

Many of you who might take a moment to read this know that I am a follower of Jesus.  You yourself might be one as well.  In the passage where Paul says he forgets what lies behind, he goes on to say this; "One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."  Paul says I invest my present by pressing forward in this upward call of God in Jesus.  You might ask, what is that call?  Just a few lines before this Paul says, "I count all things as loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord."   Here is that upward call Paul was pressing toward in the present-- to know Jesus.  The relationship that mattered most to Him was knowing Jesus and I might add, making Him known to others.  All the good in the past, all the trauma in the past--it was in the past.  What mattered most in the present was to know Jesus better.

Whether you are a Christ follower or not, don't let your past rob you of the beauty of this day.  And definitely don't let it keep you from seeking to know Jesus better and follow Him more completely.