Goals and the Past (Re-Work A )

 

 

  Einstein of Theology and his relevance to your and my past?

     Here  from Pastor and New York Times best selling  Author, David Jeremiah who stated that if we focus on the great Apostle,Paul, who was the intellectual giant of the Ancient world (who I name as the Einstein of Theology). Who accomplished more in his lifetime than most of us in several saying in effect, that is, " I have not arrived." That is how he summed up his lifetime walking well with what God had called him to do. In other words he did what he was called to do.He wasn't perfect as yet. 

 

    Here is an statement by the  popular and erudite N.T. Wright writing about the impact of the great Apostle, Paul's letters in the New Testament, saying

"Paul`s letters, in a standard modern translation, occupy fewer than

eighty pages. .. . It is safe to say that these letters, page for page, have

generated more comment, more sermons and more seminars, more

monographs and dissertations than any other writings from the

ancient world. .. . It is as though eight or ten small paintings by an

obscure artist were to become more sought after, more studied and

copied, more highly valued than all the Rembrandts and Titians and

all the Monets and Van Goghs in the world.?"

    Some consider Paul as the greatest man who ever lived apart from Jesus Christ.  Yet in the twilight of his life and now in mine, looking back and saying,

 " I'm not there yet. I haven't apprehended the spiritual quality of life,  I want for my life. I am not perfected. I going to continue to strive for that which God has called me."

      Regarding your and my past, if we take God's perspective, you and I need to make up our mind to forget those things that haunt us. Jeremiah says, even in the event,we are offended by someone who is supposed to love us. Or when, we have given someone bad advice or vice versa.  In the deep past, we were on a journey in which we fell into a deep abyss of some incomprehensible act of sin or sins that revealed how our straying and struggle brought us to a mess. We change our minds and sought forgiveness from all the.aggrevied parties. Now our overacting mind assails us day and night

What do we do? 

Pastor Jeremiah says,in humility  deciding to do this step below is humbling to our minds, but transforms our situation. 

Choosing to forget is of paramount importance.  Otherwise you will become obsessed with the past and not learn from it. Pastor David Jeremiah says,

"What things in your past could you choose to forget? For example, guilt is remembering a sin that's already been buried by the blood  of Christ. Bitterness is remembering an offense that should be buried by the blood of Jesus Christ. .. Discouragement is letting the  last setback become a roadblock.

 

Your brain wants to relive events over and over. If you let it,it will haunt you with failures, shame you with mistakes, keep you awake with stress, and lull you to sleep with nostalgia. You can override your brain by giving the past to God and then "forgetting" the things  that would pull you back and down.

 

If you know Christ as Savior, there's absolutely no reason to obsess over your past failures. The blood of Christ frees you from beating your self up with regrets. When you become a follower of Christ, you enter a new life and your past is put behind you once and for all."

 

 

            This essay based partially on the book, Forward by David Jeremiah and  my proposition in part as echoing my twilight years' goal as well as the great Apostle,Paul's. ( I hasten to  say that I cannot and do not compare  my life to the accomplishments and life of Paul, the great Apostle.)       

( Opinion and research by Digital Anvil )