Welcoming the Present in Order to Move on From the Past

Personal transformation is challenged, and often thwarted, when we, or others, keep ourselves in the past.

When that happens, we—along with those who pigeonhole us into the person we used to be—are backward-invested rather than present-invested. What hope is there, then, of any future investment if we cannot even get past yesterday to today?

Warren Wiersbe has some great things to say about this, especially in regard to the Apostle Paul—a man who not only promoted, but also lived, the adage, “Don’t look back”:

“When he became a Christian, it was not the end for Paul, but the beginning.”

“And this experience continued in the years to follow. It was a personal experience (‘that I may know Him…’) as Paul walked with Christ, prayed, obeyed His will, and sought to glorify His name…now he had a Friend, a Master, a constant Companion!”

“There were things in Paul’s past that could have been weights to hold him back (1 Tim 1:12-17), but they became inspirations to speed him ahead. The events did not change but his understanding of them changed.”

“So, ‘forgetting those things which are behind’…means that we break the power of the past…We cannot change the past but we can change the meaning of the past.”

“‘To forget’ in the Bible means ‘no longer to be influenced by or affected by.’”

“Too many Christians are shackled by regrets of the past. They are trying to run the race by looking backward!….'The things which are behind' must be set aside and ‘the things which are before’ must take their place.”

I find it appropriate that Wiersbe titled the book in which these quotes appear, Be Joyful.

Because joy and freedom from our past are inextricably linked.

This freedom also entails paying no mind to those who, out of their own warped pride of needing to nurse old wounds, or out of ignorance that some people actually do change for the better, or because they feel jealous of or threatened by the improvements in our character, refuse to live in the present with us. 

And sometimes, they just don't like the "better" version of us! So be it. 

My husband once said, referring to the early months of my faith,

“I noticed the bus was leaving. And I wasn’t on it.” 

Thankfully, as he observed and was a benefactor of the positive difference in me, he eventually did get on the bus, about a year later. 

And that is where we both still find ourselves, side by side, having the best time ever in our lives, today, in the here and in the now. 

Copyright Barb Harwood