Truth or Lie #10: My Past Doesn't Have to Plague Me

Truth:    My past doesn’t have to plague me.

Lie:         My past will always be a giant scar that will never heal.

Some people say: “Time heals everything.”

You don’t have to live very long to know there’s not a lot of truth to that statement.

Life has its hurts—hurts that are often too deep to wait for time to heal.

But does our past have to plague us?

Is the past just a giant scar that will never heal?

Can we just put a bandaid on it, and get over it?

Let me ask you this . . . what’s your one thing?

You know.

That “ONE THING” that’s your brand.

That represents you.

Your motto for the day-in and day-out.

Paul’s was this . . .

“This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 3:14)

Paul’s one thing was really two. 

In one breath, and, somehow, in one action, he forgot and reached forth. He forgot the past, while striving for what was ahead.

He didn’t allow his past to plague him. 

His past didn’t infect his today.

While forgotten, his past only spurred him on in the present toward his future.

The truth is . . . our past—its heartaches, the ways others have hurt, the ways we have hurt others, the sins we’ve been guilty of—none of these scars have to hurt today.

No matter the past, the Lord our God makes new.

A bandaid is only protection from further infection; a covering from the ugliness of a wound.

Our God provides more than a bandaid.

Our God is our Healer.

Our RE-Creator.

Our Prize for what’s ahead.

Time can never heal the past.

But by His grace, we can forget and reach forth.

One thing.

And instead of being a plague or a giant scar, yesterday can be the springboard for today that spurs us on to tomorrow.

“Remember not the former things, neither consider the things of old.

Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it?

I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.” (Isaiah 43:18.19)

Related Posts:
Forgiveness Frees 

Raise Your Hand 

Click here to listen to the lesson on Jehovah-Rapha (the LORD who Heals).

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This is Part 10 in a series, called “Truth or Lie,” based on the book, Lies Women Believe and the Truth that Sets Them Free by Nancy Leigh DeMoss.

In the final chapter, Nancy highlights 22 freeing truths that are essential to our Christian lives.

Come back each Monday (or Subscribe to Capacity Corner) as we look together at these 22 truths one-by-one. 

(And feel free to share your own thoughts below!)