Tag Archives: Forget what is past

Let it go

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 Someone said, “you will find that it is necessary to let things go, simply for the reason that they are heavy.”

 
“Let It Go,” from the hit cartoon movie Frozen: you either love it or hate it (because you’ve heard it so many times)! Regardless of how you feel about the song, the title carries a powerful message for life.
 

Have you ever carried a burden a very long time? So long that it has weighed on your ability to cope and get on with life? Some burdens we have to bear – and ask others to help carry our load. But some burdens can be set down at our choosing. It might be a hurt caused by someone else. Or it could be a hurt you caused yourself. It might be a grudge you’ve kept against someone…or against God. It might be a concern that has weighed you down but you’re afraid that confronting someone will make matters worse. There is a time for biblical confrontation and with a biblical motive of love. God wants us to be reconcilers and peacemakers. But there are other times when it is best to simply, “let it go.” Write it on a piece of paper, burn it and resolve to move on. Get over it. Why?

 

Carrying grudges or the burden of bad memories about someone is like a cancer that eats away at your soul; it creates bitterness, wrath and anger and impedes the path to healthier relationships.  (See Ephesians 4:31-32 “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger be put away from you.”)

Constantly focusing on past hurts robs us of seeing new life right now. Dwelling on past hurts creates a wilderness barrier that keeps us from seeing  a clear path out. (See Isaiah 43:18-19, “Remember not the former things. I am doing a new thing. I will make a way in the wilderness.”)

Letting past hurts control us keeps us from enjoying the good future God has planned for us. You can’t set off on a new journey with one foot in the boat and the other on the dock. Holding back keeps us from God’s intended best for us. (See Philippians 3: 12-14, ” I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”)

 

Ask God about the burdens you’re carrying today. Is it a relationship He wants you to try to reconcile? Or is it something you need to let go so you can move on?  Maybe it is time to put that heavy burden down and rest.

 

“Come to me all of you who are heavy burdened, and I will give you rest.” Jesus, in Matthew 11:28

 

 

 

Alice never went back to wonderland

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Have you ever pursued a rabbit trail only to later regret it? You know, followed a long winding path that in the end made no sense and was a complete waste of time?

In Lewis Carroll’s classic, Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, the young Alice experiences a series of wild and amazing adventures when she accidentally falls down a rabbit hole. It was a confusing place full of mad characters but yet not without a certain fascination.

Alice grew up. She never went back to Wonderland and instead went on with her life, remembering the important lessons from her nightmarish past adventure:

“I can’t go back to yesterday because I was a different person then.”

“If you drink much from a bottle marked ‘poison’ it is almost certain to disagree with you, sooner or later.”

“If you don’t know where you are going, then it doesn’t matter which way you go; every road will take you there.”

I wonder how much we are like Alice in being fascinated with mad adventures that keep us from the great adventures God intends for us and take us instead down maddening rabbit paths that lead us nowhere. I wonder how often are we drawn by the elixir of past bad thinking, knowing that it is like poison to us, but not finding courage to put it down. I wonder how often we give in to putting on our old self when we know quite well that our new self is what helps us experience God’s best.

Alice didn’t go back to Wonderland. Neither should we. Forgetting what is past, live today with your eyes fully fixed on the prize that you seek, that which will always be worthy of your life adventure.

“Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13-14