The Past is Past!!!

Have you ever sat and listened to someone reminisce about the past???  Maybe it was your mom or your grandma or grandpa.



There is nothing wrong with thinking once in a while about the past, as long as you don’t live there!!!   As long as you actually live in the future!!!


It is one thing to talk about the past and laugh and have fun in doing so!!!


But it is another thing to long for those times long ago and wish you could go back there and relive them!!!  


There is just something wrong in reliving events as the best times you have ever had!!!  



Our future is so bright and there are so many good things in God out there for ALL of us!!!

So, when is it wrong to think about the past??? 


Well, like I have already said, if you are spending time living in the past and NOT moving forward with you life, then something is wrong!!!



The most simple answer is:  when it is sin that you are thinking about!!! 



I am going to be very plain here!!!  


If you are thinking about when you used to go “party,” that is wrong!!!   And if you are thinking about that fling you had, that is wrong!!!  If you are thinking about that man/woman that you dated several years ago, then you are wrong!!!



We should never allow your mind to linger on those kinds of things!!!

God tells us in HIS WORD, that we are to forget those things that are behind us!!!  We are to forget those things that are in the past!!!

Philippians 3:13-16 (NCV)

¹³ Brothers and sisters, I know that I have not yet reached that goal, but there is one thing I always do. Forgetting the past and straining toward what is ahead,

¹⁴ I keep trying to reach the goal and get the prize for which God called me through Christ to the life above.

¹⁵ All of us who are spiritually mature should think this way, too. And if there are things you do not agree with, God will make them clear to you.

¹⁶ But we should continue following the truth we already have.

Continually thinking and dwelling on that love affair from long ago or that time when you used to party every night or maybe when you used to drink and smoke so long ago will eventually lead you back into sin!!!



God wants us to think on good things!!!  What we allow our minds to dwell on should be good and pleasant!!! 



Philippians 4:8 (KJV) Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.



The Common English Bible says it this way!!!



Philippians 4:8 (CEB) From now on, brothers and sisters, if anything is excellent and if anything is admirable, focus your thoughts on these things: all that is true, all that is holy, all that is just, all that is pure, all that is lovely, and all that is worthy of praise.

God’s Word says, as a man thinks so is he!!!



Proverbs 23:7 (NKJV) For as he thinks in his heart, so is he…

David was so aware of this that he wrote about it in a song to God!!!

Psalm 19:14 (NKJV) Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight,  Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.

Wrong thinking always lead to wrong living!!!  And God warns about living wrong and doing as we please!!! 

Philippians 3:17-19 (NCV)

¹⁷ Brothers and sisters, all of you should try to follow my example and to copy those who live the way we showed you.

¹⁸ Many people live like enemies of the cross of Christ. I have often told you about them, and it makes me cry to tell you about them now.

¹⁹ In the end, they will be destroyed. They do whatever their bodies want, they are proud of their shameful acts, and they think only about earthly things.

 

Do we NOT know that God hears our thoughts and knows exactly what goes on in all of our minds???



1 Corinthians 3:16 (NKJV) Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?