"What you did back there is learn the lessons that brought you to this particular moment"
Steve Harvey
There is a saying out there that we do well to remember. Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. If we forget the lessons of the past, we may very well end up being schooled all over again. Sounds like good advice right? Yet many a well meaning person has forsaken it time and time again. Many a well meaning Christian has fallen victim to those lessons previously learned. Comedian Steve Harvey is a television personality, motivational speaker and lukewarm Christian. I say lukewarm because much of the language that he uses is straight from mainstream church pulpits. God has a blessing for you, God wants to show you something new etc. Every now and then I will come across a Steve Harvey motivational video on my Facebook feed. The other day I noticed one which actually made a bit of sense. He was speaking to how far too many people focus too much on their past failures and mistakes instead of moving forward. One phrase he said summed it all up for me, "What you did back there is learn the lessons that brought you to this particular moment." Well said! Now, who is going to learn from those lessons and who needs to be taught all over again? I know that I have had many a lesson which I've had to learn over and over again until it finally sunk in. I also know that I'm far from alone in this. So, keeping with my faith, what does the scripture tell us about learning from our mistakes? The apostle Paul proclaims that he is forgetting what lies behind him and is straining forward to what lies ahead in Jesus {Philippians 3:13}. We can assume that Paul's desire here was a life in Christ Jesus. The prophet Isaiah proclaimed that we should not remember the things of old {Isaiah 43:18}. Yet the greatest lesson of all is one we can take from the Father.
So that if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: the primitive passed by, Lo! there has come new!
2 Corinthians 5: 17, Concordant New Testament
What is it that the Father sees when He looks upon you? Does God see your former misdeeds and mistakes and judge you for them over and over? Do our former deeds define who we are in the Fathers eyes? No! God is not interested in what we did yesterday, only that we have the realization of who we are today. Paul provides us with a much prized lesson in Galatians. He proclaims that the old man we once were is dead and that all which remains is Christ {Galatians 2:20}. I remember listening dumbfounded to a friend as he introduced me to these words of Paul. When did I die? Wouldn't this be a lesson I'd remember? Well, as Paul proclaims, I died on that cross beside Jesus. It is now Christ Jesus who lives in me. But that old man, the old Scott, is gone never to return. Lesson learned? As far as realizing my own identity, yes. Like Paul, we do well to forget what lies behind us and strive forward for our life in Christ. I feel that the words of Steve Harvey are prophetic when placed into the context of our knowing who we are in Christ. What life has provided us is the lessons we needed to bring us to our own moment where the Fathers revelation of Christ Jesus in us is realized. Then, like Paul, we will strive forward in a life in Christ.
To whom God wills to make known what are the glorious riches of this secret among the nations, which is; Christ among you, the expectation of glory.
Colossians 1: 27, Concordant New Testament
~Scott~
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