The main focus of this podcast is the importance of forgetting the past and looking toward a hopeful future with Jesus. I emphasize that one of the most significant steps we can take to enhance our spiritual and relational lives is to release our grip on past experiences and hurts. Drawing from Philippians 3:13-14, I encourage listeners to strain toward what lies ahead, reminding them that our future in Christ is filled with promise. I also highlight biblical examples, such as the daily provision of manna for the Israelites, illustrating the dangers of holding onto past grievances. Ultimately, embrace the newness of life that comes with being in Christ and move forward without the burden of past mistakes.
Takeaways:
In Philippians 3:13-14, we learn that forgetting the past is crucial for spiritual growth.
The concept of emotional hoarding can prevent us from moving forward in our lives.
God's promise of newness in Christ emphasizes that we are not bound by our past mistakes.
We should focus on our future with Jesus, who offers us a path free from condemnation.
Confessing our sins allows us to embrace God's forgiveness and let go of guilt.
In Joshua 7:10, God encourages us to rise and continue forward despite our past failures.
Hi, welcome to the Hobo Soul podcast of road advice from the Bible and from me, Yvon Prehn, someone who's a little further down the road of life. I'll talk to you every weekday for about five to 10 minutes, with periodic longer talks on serious Saturdays.
Let's get started with our topic today, which is
Forget the past, look to your future with Jesus. This is our Lenten Devotion Number three.
The verse, the quote that I have as our inspiration in this is Philippians 3:13,14, where it says, "I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it, but one thing I do forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."
Our challenge is based on this and what I say to you on that is that one of the most important things we can do to improve our spiritual and relational lives is to leave the past behind. Our future is glorious tomorrow and forever with Jesus, and we need to focus on that.
A caution that we need to keep in mind as we begin to make changes in Lent is that we don't want to keep looking at the past.
There may be times and reasons to go over past events and life experiences with a trained counselor, but for most people the Bible strongly comes down on the side of forgetting what is past and pressing ahead. The verse I opened with is just one of them. Let me share a few more verses and give you some comments on them.
The verse that immediately came to mind for me was Hebrews 12:1, where it encourages us to "keep looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."
Let me repeat my favorite phrase from this where it says, for the joy that was set before him he endured.
Jesus was betrayed by friends, falsely accused, and literally had the sins of the world placed on him. And did he look back at any of that as he suffered? No, it says he looked ahead with the joy that was waiting for him.
Another example that comes to mind on not looking to the past, not hoarding the past, is from the Old Testament where the Israelites were given manna, this miraculous food from heaven every day. Now they were told to just enjoy what they had for that day and then to not hoard any of it or keep any of it or anything like that.
And what happened, though, is some didn't believe God and If they kept it overnight, it says it became full of maggots and and began to smell. That's a great picture of how some people emotionally hoard hurts by church people or friends or family, or just random people who weren't nice.
They hold on to these past sins and they keep looking at them and that gives them some sort of emotional nourishment. But like the day old manna, this focus on the past can start to stink and the maggots it generates can rot everything around you.
If something from your past keeps bothering you, deal with it as best you can, or again, get help if you need it. But deal with it and move on. Instead of a focus on the past, think about these verses. A new beginning is our birthright.
It's God's gift when we first become a Christian, as 2nd Corinthians 5:17 says, Therefore if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old is gone, the new is here.
I don't think this is a one time event, but a newness of life that is something we can have again and again in Jesus. We're not tied to our past. We are not doomed to repeat sins. We have a new life, the very life of the ever creating, ever powerful God.
The next verse is also something that is a constant once we become a Christian. In Romans 8:1 it says, "There is now therefore no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
Did you hear that? No condemnation.
On the idea of condemnation, one of the things we need to turn over, one of the things we tend to turn over in our minds is past sins. We just do that. We condemn ourselves. We do it again and again, but just stop it.
If we confessed our sin and came clean to God, we're forgiven and can and should move forward.
What's really interesting about this whole situation though, of confessing our sins, it says in First John 1:9 that we confess our sins, that God forgives our sins and cleanses us from all unrighteousness. What's interesting about it is it doesn't stop there with God because it says he forgets our sins. We might not, but it says he does.
And there's a whole bunch of verses on them. I didn't even realize how many till I started doing this devotion. Listen to some of these.
Hebrews 8:12.For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.
In Micah 7:18 it says, who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance. He does not retain his anger forever because he delights in steadfast love.
Micah 7:19 he will have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.
Jeremiah:
Psalm:
There's an old saying, it's kind of funky, but it's good to remember where they say that. You know, "God casts our sins into the depths of the sea and he puts up a sign that says no fishing." God got rid of our sins.
Jesus died on the cross to do that. He forgives us. He forgets them.
My all time favorite passage, though, that kind of sums up a lot of this comes from the time that Israel sinned by taking forbidden items. And then they got defeated by their enemies. And Joshua's groveling and moaning and groaning because of this. And here's how God responds.
This is literally what the Bible says. It's in the living Bible and it's Joshua 7:10. But the Lord said to Joshua, get up off your face.
He needed to deal with the problem.
He needed to just get up and go on. He did that and he went on to conquer the land. Whatever negative things might be in your past, don't look there. Don't dwell on them.
Get up off your face and conquer the future God's given you.
That's all for this podcast, for transcripts, links to related material, and much more to help you learn to know, trust, apply and teach the Bible, go to www.bible805.com for now, let me end with this benediction and prayer.
May you walk each day with surrounded by the gracious love of the Father, guided by the gentle wisdom of the Holy Spirit, and conscious of the astoundingly real presence of Jesus, who will walk with you until you're no more a hobo soul, no more a transient wandering heart, but at home in the kingdom prepared for you with your God forever. Amen.
