Mute the past

Samuel Pisar became a Harvard-educated lawyer and statesman out of the horrendous beginnings of a Nazi concentration camp. He eluded death sentences twice while watching hundreds of fellow Jews die in gas chambers. He escaped on a death march. A hardened and cruel boy, Samuel survived post-war Poland selling cigarettes and stolen coffee grounds. A French aunt from rescued him from the streets, and he began a new and completely different life.

In doing so, he provides a model for Christians trying to slam the door on the past: “I had to wipe out the first 17 years of my life,” he said. “I muted the past” and “turned to the future with a vengeance.”

When God made us a “new creation” and “born again,” it was to “wipe out” how ever many years were previously lived in sin.

 

Fast your past

Fasting is to go without food — usually — for a prolonged period of time. It’s a way to devote yourself to God for a time of prayer. There may be an intensifying of prayer.

Maybe it would be good to fast your past. Let go of the failures and don’t believe you have to continue in them. Fast your successes; don’t rest on your laurels. Don’t hang on to your hurts. Let it go.

God is definitely about moving forward. Many people are crippled by the past. They’ve lost their vibrancy, their joy, their zest for life. Don’t be one of them.

Seeking the new

So God moved in your life? That’s well and fine. But what is He doing today?

That’s the question. The reason is because too many Christians are stuck in the increasingly distant past. They no longer seek God for miracles today. If your last miracle was a year or so ago, be worried. You need a miracle now!

Lamentations teaches us this (yes, there actually is something good in Lamentations (JK)). The Lord’s mercies are new every morning — Lam. 3:22-23 (paraphrased). If His mercies are new, then we need new miracles, new directions, new hopes, new challenges.

Christianity must be forward-looking. Some Christian glory in a spectacular past. Their testimony is always the same and about a past that keeps getting further into the past. While it is great to remember the testimonies of the past, we need to always be adding to our resume of God’s move in our lives. Pray for a miracle today!