Pastor Elwin Ahu
January 18, 2004 - W0403

Each and every day, each and every New Year, we have a chance to start over, to move beyond our past mistakes and choose a better future for ourselves in Christ. If youíre a golfer you might want to think of life as a game of golf. When you hit a lousy shot, you replace it with a ìmulliganîñyour chance to take the shot over again without penalty. Or, if youíre a movie fan, you might want to think about the movie, City Slickers. Remember the story? Three middle-aged friends go off on a cattle drive seeking adventure but instead, find and renew themselves. Remember what Billy Crystal tells one of his despairing friends? ìLife is a do over!î  Move past the past and start again. 

God gives us the same advice and the same opportunity. We can move past our pasts and start again with a clean slate and renewed hope for the future. Godís nature is not to count our mistakes in life, our missed strokes, or our wrong choices.  Even the great leaders in the Bible such as Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Peter, and Paul -- each made mistakes, wrong choices, but each was given a second chance.  Just as God causes each day to begin with a new sunrise and each season to cycle from winter to spring, He gives us another chance to do life over. Look at this passage from Isaiah:

ìDo not call to mind the former things, or ponder things of the past.  Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it?î  (Is. 43:18-19)

With God, yesterday ended yesterday and He wants to bring us something new with every new day. Godís intentions and his nature are to bring something new into our lives. Yet so many of us are trapped in our yesteryears that we cannot see the newness God gives us each day. ìI realized how bitter I had becomeÖ I was so foolish and ignorant ñ I must have seemed like a senseless animal to You. Yet I still belong to You; You are holding my right hand.î (Ps. 73:21-23 NLT)

So many of us allow our past mistakes to determine our present choices. Yet we forget one important reality:

?        HOLDING ONTO OUR PAST CLOUDS OUR PERCEPTIONS OF THE PRESENT.

Our past acts as a filter, distorting what is real and what is now. Whatever we choose to layer on this filter will determine how we act, how we react, how we see others, and how others see us. It can be our past with its bitterness and hurts, or it can be the promises of God. The worst that can happen is to allow ourselves to dwell in the past for in doing so, we are allowing Satan a foothold in our present and into our future. 

How then, do we dispose of the bitterness, hurts, and mistakes of our past? How can we leave these at the foot of the cross of Christ and start our new year with a renewed spirit?  Well, there are three steps to take for moving beyond our past: 1. We must expose the reality of our past; 2. Accept the responsibility for our future; and 3. Live by the promises of God.  Letís begin.

THREE STEPS TO MOVE BEYOND OUR PAST:

1.      EXPOSE THE REALITY OF OUR PAST.

We must be willing to expose and acknowledge the truth of our past so that we can move on into the future God has planned for us. Our past is not, as we sometimes wish, ìout of sight, out of mind.î If we ignore it, we allow it to permeate each and every action, reaction, and decision we make. To ensure that our past does not wrongly influence our present or our future, we must look honestly at it and place it before God, just as David did: ìExamine me, O Lord, and try me, test my mind and my heart.î  (Ps. 26:2)

In other words, leave it before God in your prayer time and your quiet time. Try writing down the sins of the past. Then, after youíve taken the time to list them down, lift them up to God. ìLord, those who have hurt me Father, help me to extend forgiveness to them.  And, to those whom I have hurt, Father, help me to ask forgiveness from them.î Then, there is one more person from whom you must seek forgiveness ñ yourself. Too many times, we are not willing to forgive ourselves, forgetting that the forgiveness of God is upon us. The Bible reminds us: ìThen David said to Nathan, ëI have sinned against the Lord.í And Nathan said to David, ëThe Lord also has taken away your sin; you shall not die.íî  (2 Sam. 12:13)

Before the Lord could use him, David had to expose his own sins and ask God for forgiveness so that he could forgive himself. Forgiving ourselves ñ undoubtedly is one of the greatest and most difficult hurdles for moving beyond our past. Yet if God can forgive us our sins, should we not then forgive ourselves? 

Once we have acknowledged our past and forgiven ourselves we gain the freedom to move on beyond ourselves. Then our second step is to accept responsibility for what comes next. 

2.      ACCEPT THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR OUR FUTURE.

We have the responsibility for our own future, yet how often do we blame others? It is so much easier to put the responsibility for our actions onto someone else than to accept the responsibility for ourselves. The Lord says that we will not be held accountable for the actions of others, but for our own actions. ìFor we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in our bodies.î  (2 Cor. 5:10 NLT)

In other words, it is our responsibility. We can recognize the tragedies and difficulties of our past, butÖ

?        OUR PAST DOES NOT DETERMINE OUR FUTURE; OUR CHOICES DO.

Our future is up to us. It is our choice. We are responsible for our own lives. We are responsible for our own future and what we choose to do from now on.  It is very dangerous to leave that choice up to someone else. ìI call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse.  So choose life in order that you may liveÖî (Deut. 30:19)

ìChoose life.î We have to choose to make our own futures better. Itís not someone elseís choice to make, nor would we want it to be; it is ours.  If we want a better year and if we want to have a good life, we must make the correct choices. Certainly there are elements in our past; terrible events that have happened to us, things that we did not choose to have happen. While we may not have had the ability to control those events, we do have the ability to choose how we respond to those events. The solutions to all the problems in our lives lie within us. Embrace the fact that God has given us that choice.

So, what choices lay before us? How do we make the correct choices?  If we choose to live, we must choose toÖ

3.      LIVE BY HIS PROMISES.

We can choose to live by the promises of God. His promises are eternal and cannot be altered by mistakes that weíve made. Jeremiah 29:11 is a foundational scripture for our church.  It talks about the plans God has for our lives, to prosper us and not to harm us or to give us calamity. They are plans for a future and hope.  So many people believe that their mistakes and sins alter Godís plans for us. It is not true. God has nothing but the best planned for us. This is His eternal promise and there is nothing we can do, mistakes we can make, or hurtful events in our lives that can turn us away from that plan IF we are willing to turn our hearts to God.  His loving-kindness is new every morning. 

ìThe Lordís lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning, great is Thy faithfulness.î  (Lam. 3:22-23)

God gives anyone who asks for grace, mercy, and forgiveness a second, a third, and a fourth chance. The enemy wants to play the videotape of our past time and time again to remind us of where weíve been. He knows that if he can get us to review that videotape again, it can cause us to fall short of the plans God has for us. 

So take a stand against the enemy. Each time he reminds us of our past, remind him of his future.  Reject thoughts of the past because it clouds our perception of the present. Then follow Godís instruction to starting over by first exposing and acknowledging the truth of our past. Secondly, accept responsibility for our own future by not blaming others. And finally choose to live by Godís promises. ìFor I know the plans that I have for you declares the Lord, ëplans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.íî (Jer. 29:11)  Let Godís promises be our guide through this New Year.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1.  Define forgiveness.  How do you know when you have truly forgiven?

2.  Take 10 minutes of quiet reflection and write down the sins of your past.  Whom do you need to forgive?  From whom do you need to ask forgiveness?  How will you forgive yourself?

3.  How are our perceptions of today and our visions of the future tied to the actions or choices of someone else?  Identify one or two of these in you life and decide how to make today and tomorrow reflect your own choices in these areas.

4.  What are God's plans for you according to Scripture?  Give the verses where you find His plans.

5.  Write and recite a prayer asking God for the strength and wisdom to let go of past sins, reject Satan's attempts to pull you back into the past, and to focus choices on His plans and promises.  Be specific as you name both the sins and the ways you see Satan working, then name the promises of God you can apply in your own situation.

Though this faith-filled volunteer writer does not want to be recognized, we want to thank her for this weekís summary and her committed heart of service. Mahalo!