5:111 – Are you stuck in the past?

#faithbites #faithjourney stuck

Intro

I was watching Star Trek today, and Q had a great line, “Humans are always stuck in the past”. Now with Star Trek, you can think that it means the past as in time travel or the past as in our memories. I know I’m often stuck in my past. Why did I do something this way? Shouldn’t I have done something different to stop it from turning out this way? Why can’t I get past it? When we think like this we become stuck in what was and circle around what could have been instead of what is. If we are stuck with our past mistakes, does that negate Jesus dying for our sins so we can be forgiven?

Questions

• What event in your past has you stuck?
• What actions are you taking to move forward and beyond that?
• How does Jesus’s forgiveness of our sins help us move forward?

Scripture

• Isaiah 43:18-19 – “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
• 2 Corinthians 5:17 – Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
• Ecclesiastes 7:10 – Say not, “Why were the former days better than these?” For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.

Reflection

Some refer to the old days as the good old days. For some there were but often we romanticize the past. If we live in the past, either in the glory or the trouble, we can’t move forward. God wants us to live in the now and for the tomorrow. He makes a path for us to progress. He gave us Jesus to make sure that path was clear. Through Jesus, we become clean. We become a new creation. The person who made those mistakes no longer exists. Jesus has forgiven us. It is up to us to accept that forgiveness and live in the now.

As we close, remember, we can’t look to the future if we are looking at the past. Our past mistakes are forgiven and we are set up for future success. Let’s live in the gift that Christ has given us.

Prayer

Father God, thank you for helping us not be stuck in the past. We have made mistakes and are asking to be forgiven. Help us to accept that forgiveness and not be stuck by our mistakes. Let us move forward in your name and with your love and guidance. We pray this in your holy name, Amen.