Have you ever stopped yourself doing something because of a worry or fear of a situation that happened in the past?
It’s so easy to dwell in the past rather than live in the here and now, let alone look to the future, to still harbour anger for something that went wrong or to constantly be thinking ‘if only’. That is not to minimise the effect that past events have had on us!
When we focus on the former rather than the present we can be seriously hindered in our daily life. Sometimes we are almost stuck in the past with the inability to move on to something new. Yet there is no need to feel stuck, because through Jesus we can give our past and the events which bog us down, over to God, and allow him to transform our present life. Our failures, or those of others, need not determine our future.
In the book of Hebrews we read “Let us lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,” (12:1) If we are not careful the weight of the past doesn’t allow us to run the race of today.
When the past dominates all our thoughts and actions we become so focussed on them that we don’t see how God is working or can work with us today if only we would let him.
Don’t let a past of regrets, ‘what ifs’, anger, doubt and hopelessness dominate your life, because it will eventually incapacitate you. Look instead at the things you need to let go of so that you can live for today and look forward to the new opportunities that are ahead.