I have been talking to a few Christians, and I have realized something: although we are in today, the things of yesterday can still get to us. I have been looking forward, but people from my past and situations from my past always try to reach from yesterday to ruin my today. I decided a while ago that the past is staying in the past and I will have no part in it. I will not turn to old sins, I will not turn to old people, and I will not turn to old drama. I trust in God today to fix what I could not fix yesterday.
As great as that may sound, it is not always that easy. Sometimes, we hold onto bitterness and anger, or we do not forgive and we allow these things to stay in our lives, effecting us daily. As easy as it is to say, "forgive and forget," it is not always so easy to do. Often times, we cannot take the advice that we give others, or we cannot find the strength to forgive. But, here is the key: when you let go of the past, it cannot effect your future. Forgiving someone will not change the past experience, but it will change your future. That is why Christ tells us to forgive. If we do not forgive yesterday, we cannot fully do what Christ asks of us today.
Sometimes, we feel that it is too hard to forgive. How do you forgive your best friend for stealing your husband? How do you forgive your brother from breaking up your relationship? How do you forgive someone who has sent your precious child to the hospital? How do you forgive someone who has spoken ill will over your mother? How do you forgive someone who has raped you and left you with a baby? Forgiveness isn't always about little things like who took your last soda. We have to forgive about the big things too, like who stole all of the money from your checking account. I am not saying, if you get robbed, do not do anything about it. Let justice be served, but do not let bitterness stick around. At some point in time, you need to forgive; and the sooner you forgive, the sooner Christ can heal your heart and use you for a glorious plan.
Isaiah 43:18-19 says, "forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland." It will not be easy to move forward, but when bitterness and anger are allowed to sit in your life, they drag death and sin into your life as well. There may be a sin that you cannot overcome no matter how often you pray. Why could you not stop doing it? Maybe because you are not forgiving someone of something. When you forgive, you close the door to bitterness and anger and everything that they could drag in.
This could be your call to forgive. Maybe you need to forgive a family member. Maybe you need to forgive an old friend. Maybe you need to forgive a co-worker. Maybe you even need to forgive yourself. Yes, sometimes we sin so badly that we do not try to forgive ourselves. There may be a sin that you don't want anyone to know about. If that is the case, you must forgive yourself of it just as Christ forgives you of it or you will always be weighed down by it. It wants you to feel guilty and stuck in your sin, but you must know that you are forgiven and loved. God knows the sin that you have committed because He was there with you when you did it. He wants to make you clean and let you experience His love. If God has started making you clean and new, He can finish it. "Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Trust that He will fulfill His word and make you a new creation in Christ.
Sometimes we need to look back at our lives, and sometimes we need to look at where we are at. "Why can't I get that job?" "Why can't I get that position?" "Why can't I pastor yet?" "Why can't I overcome this sin?" "Why am I doing everything that I said I would never do?" "Why am I doing the same thing that that person did to me?" In the end, it all comes down to this question to God. "Why am I still struggling?"
Sometimes we look at our age and say, "this isn't where I was supposed to be by now." Sometimes we look at our positions and locations and say, "this isn't where I am supposed to be right now?" Why are we not where we expected? It would be one thing if we were advancing in places that we never dreamed of, because that would be God moving in your life; but maybe you have been in the same job, same house, same situation for years and you do not understand why things are not getting better. There could be bitterness and anger from yesterday that is holding you back.
We all need to take a moment to pray and ask God, "who do I need to forgive and why?" He will answer that one if you ask Him for real. He wants us to forgive so we can be fully forgiven. Sometimes, we don't know that we are holding onto anger and grudges; but other times, we know and do not want to acknowledge it. "I don't want to forgive him for what he did to her," or "I don't want to forgive them for what they did to us," or "I don't want to forgive her for what she did to me." We have to forgive and forget.
My favorite comeback to that one is, "Well, I'm just not ready to forgive." Does it matter? What if Christ had that excuse? A man in his jail cell, crying out to God for forgiveness and God replies, "I'm not ready to forgive you yet. Stay humble. I'll get back to you." Forgiveness is not emotionally based. It is a choice. Bitterness tries to make you say you can wait it out, but there comes a point when you need to just forgive. There comes a point when the anger and bitterness have to go and love and mercy need to step in. We must put aside our desires and our emotional wants for God's. In Luke 9:23, Jesus said, "whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." That means that we must deny our desire to hold grudges and carry the cross of forgiveness that Jesus Christ did. We must let go of our own selfish emotions and embrace love and forgiveness. If we call ourselves the disciples of Christ, He tells us what we need to do. We must let go our our fleshly desires and take up the cross. We must let go of the past and pick up a new future.
-D
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