REGRET
I frequently
hear persons in old age, say how they would live, if they were to live their
lives over again: Resolved, that I will live just so as I can think I shall
wish I had done, supposing I live to old age. July 8, 1723.
Resolution Number 52.
Our
yesterdays present irreparable things to us; it is true that we have lost
opportunities which will never return, but God can transform this destructive
anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the future. Let the past sleep,
but let it sleep on the bosom of Christ. Leave the Irreparable Past in His
hands, and step out into the Irresistible Future with Him.
Oswald
Chambers
My Utmost for His Highest, 1935, Devotion for
December 31.
We have to
learn to commit not only the future but also the past to the Lord.
Daniel Fuller
The Unity of the Bible, Zondervan, 1992, p.
286.
God does not
want to remove your memories; he wants to redeem them. He wants to transform
them into something good, something that will make you more like Jesus. Do you
see the hope this offers Christians? Your bad memories of your past sins – even
the worst ones – can be opportunities for life-changing growth. You do not need
to avoid, run from, cover over, or get rid of your past. You can reinterpret it
God's way. God's goal is neither memory erasure nor memory denial, but memory
redemption.
Bad Memories: Getting Past Your Past, P&R
Publishing, 2004. Used by Permission.
The hope of
the gospel can help you put the right interpretation on your past and make it a
good thing for you. This is what will help you get past your past.
Bad Memories: Getting Past Your Past, P&R
Publishing, 2004. Used by Permission.
When [we]
view our past through a Christ-centered, gospel lens, [our] lives are
characterized by a deepening repentance, heightened gratitude, and broader
effectiveness in helping others.
Bad Memories: Getting Past Your Past, P&R
Publishing, 2004. Used by Permission.
What is the
value of being conscious of your past sins? For one thing, it will drive you to
seek reconciliation and restitution with those you have mistreated… Perhaps
certain sins hound you simply because they are unresolved… [Additionally],
being conscious of your sins will also sensitize you to new temptations in the
same areas. Like a child once burned by a stove, you will be more
careful next time, quicker to watch and pray about this area of weakness. Remembering
your past evil will deter you from repeating it. "As a dog returns to its
vomit, so a fool repeats his folly" (Pro. 26:11).
Bad Memories: Getting Past Your Past, P&R
Publishing, 2004. Used by Permission.
There is no
contradiction between a present enjoyment of justification and a proper sense
of shame about past sin. Both mark the maturing
Christian.
Bad Memories: Getting Past Your Past, P&R
Publishing, 2004. Used by Permission.
Properly
remembering our past sins with shame will deter us from repeating them and help
us receive God's saving grace. When we recall our failures through the lens of
Christ's mercy, God produces in us ongoing repentance and deepening humility.
Bad Memories: Getting Past Your Past, P&R
Publishing, 2004. Used by Permission.
When we let
our past memories springboard us to higher views of God's grace, it energizes
our praise and solidifies our Christian confidence.
Bad Memories: Getting Past Your Past, P&R
Publishing, 2004. Used by Permission.
When
reminders of your past invade, don't question your kingdom usefulness. That is
Satan's ploy to derail you. Instead, thank God for His commitment to work
through your folly to make you more sensitive to fellow sinners. Ask Him to
open doors of relational ministry and to give you the wisdom and courage…to
testify of His life-changing grace in your life.
Bad Memories: Getting Past Your Past, P&R
Publishing, 2004. Used by Permission.
Your Redeemer
is bigger than your past.
Bad Memories: Getting Past Your Past, P&R
Publishing, 2004. Used by Permission.
We are today accepted in the Beloved, today
absolved from sin, today acquitted at
the bar of God… We are now pardoned; even
now are our sins put away; even now we stand in the
sight of God accepted, as though we had never been guilty. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.”
There is not a sin in the Book of God, even now, against one of His people. Who
dares to lay anything to their charge? There is
neither speck, nor spot, nor wrinkle, nor any such thing remaining upon any one
believer in the matter of justification in the sight of the Judge of all the
earth.
C.H. Spurgeon
Morning
and Evening, Moring of May 15.
Never live in
the past, but always learn from it.
Author Unknown
What do you
do with the person who says, “I’ve asked God to forgive me about this, but I
still feel guilty”? I hear that statement over and over again. I usually say to
these people, “If you still feel guilty, then pray to God again. But this time
don’t ask Him to forgive you for the sin that is haunting you. Rather, ask Him
to forgive you for insulting His integrity by refusing to accept His
forgiveness. Who are you to refuse to forgive yourself when God has forgiven
you? When God promises to forgive His people when they repent, He is not
playing games. If He says He will forgive you, then He will forgive you. And if
God forgives you, you are forgiven.”
R.C. Sproul
The
Intimate Marriage, P&R Publishing, 1975, p. 127-128.
Most Bible characters met with failure and survived. Even
when the failure was immense, those who [rebounded] refused to lie in the dust
and bemoan their tragedy. In fact, their failure and repentance led to a
greater conception of God’s grace. They came to know the God of the second,
chance, and sometimes the third and fourth.
Oswald Sanders
Spiritual Leadership, Moody Publishers, 1967, p. 134.
You and I
must never look at our past lives; we must never look at any sin in our past
life in any way except that which leads us to praise God and to magnify His
grace in Christ Jesus… When Paul looks at the past and sees his sin he does not
stay in a corner and say, “I am not fit to be a Christian, I
have done such terrible things.” Not at all. What it
does to him, its effect upon him, is to make him praise God. He glories in
grace and says, “And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant with faith
and love which are in Christ Jesus.”
Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Spiritual
Depression – Its Causes and its Cures, 1965, p. 75,
Used by Permission from Elizabeth Catherwood (daughter).
Why believe
the devil instead of believing God? Rise up and realize the truth about
yourself – that all the past has gone, and you are one
with Christ, and all your sins have been blotted out once and for ever. O let
us remember that it is sin to doubt God’s Word. It is sin to allow the past,
which God has dealt with, to rob us of our joy and our usefulness in the
present and in the future.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Spiritual
Depression – Its Causes and its Cures, 1965, p. 76,
Used by Permission from Elizabeth Catherwood (daughter).
To dwell on
the past simply causes failure in the present. While you are sitting down and
bemoaning the past and regretting all the things you have not done, you are
crippling yourself and preventing yourself from working in the present. Is that
Christianity? Of course it is not.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Spiritual
Depression – Its Causes and its Cures, 1965, p. 83,
Used by Permission from Elizabeth Catherwood (daughter).
Never look
back; never waste your time in the present; never waste your energy; forget the
past and rejoice in the fact that you are what you are by the grace of God, and
that in the Divine alchemy of His marvelous grace you may yet have the greatest
surprise of your life and existence and find that even in your case it will
come to pass that the last shall be first. Praise God for the fact that you are
what you are, and that you are in the Kingdom.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Spiritual
Depression – Its Causes and its Cures, 1965, p. 90,
Used by Permission from Elizabeth Catherwood (daughter).