Putting the Past in the Past

So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation:

everything old has passed away;

look, new things have come into being! 2 Corinthians 5:17

Dear Friends,

On Sunday, April 12^th, I preached about hope. The definition of “hope” I proposed was that hope is having a life-giving future to live into. The main impediment to having a life-giving future is having a life-taking past that casts a shadow on one’s future… and even makes us unable to see it! The question arises, How do we really put the past in the past!

First off, putting the past in the past is not about forgetting or even pretending that something never happened. Have you ever tried to force yourself to forget something? If anything, it tends to make the memory and experience stronger because of all the energy and focus being given to it. Likewise, pretending that something never happened does not put it into the past. To borrow a phrase, it’s like putting lipstick on a pig. The things we try to hide actually gain energy and power.

The key to this whole “past” thing is having an adult conversation with oneself about, What did you make that experience or event MEAN? To use the example from my Reflection on 4/12… Being 7 years old and swinging at a high pitch when the count was 3 and 2 in the bottom of the last inning with the bases loaded and down by one… can be just another swing and a miss. When I made it mean that “I’m a failure because I let my team down,” it no longer stays in the past but becomes part of my future that’s always hanging there like a cloud.

Here’s the deal. I’m no longer seven! Fortunately, in the intervening 58 years, I’ve had a more adult conversation with myself where I acknowledged what I made that event mean AND recognized that it does not intrinsically mean that! I made it up! If I can make up that meaning, I can also make up the meaning that “I just swung and missed. I was seven!” Notice that it doesn’t change the facts around what happened. What shifts is that that event doesn’t have the power over me that it used to! I haven’t forgotten it. I haven’t pretended like it didn’t happen. I just recognize that it does not have an impact on my future.

In theological terms, we’re talking about FORGIVENESS.  We confess all the time that God forgives our sins.  Why do we keep hanging onto them? When God wipes the slate clean, why do we keep writing everything back in? The resurrection is about bringing forth life from death. It is about bringing holiness out of sinfulness. It is about creating a life-giving future with no life-taking past in it.

Allow God to make a new creation out of you as you allow God to put your past in the past.

Peace,

Pastor Phil