Recently I watched a movie on television and the person on the run was always looking back. Looking over his shoulder for someone following him, stalking him or watching him. He was suspicious of everyone he encountered and trusted no one.
Ironically I’ve noticed, and I’m sure you have too, that plot seems to be in several movies. An ex-wife on the run from an abusive ex-husband, a person on the run from a biker gang or mafia, an escaped convict who’s on the run from the law. Always on the run and always looking back, all because of what they have done in the past. A mistake they made in life and it follows them for the rest of their life, or at least to the end of the movie when their past catches up to them.
Sometime don’t you wish real life was kind of like a movie? Then it would only take anywhere from an hour and a half to three hours to confront the problem, address it or fight it off (like they always do in the movie) and then you could go on living the rest of your life with no more regrets. The past would be where it’s at, in the past. By the time the final music or song is played and all the credits run life would be back to normal like it should be.
When I went to the funeral of Charles Frank “Paw” Motes, (My other daddy) the minister preached the message from Luke 9:62.
And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God (KJV)
He spoke of how Paw Motes loved the Lord and pressed ahead to the true calling he was called for. To be a servant. He never looked back with regret. He never had to look over his shoulder, watching out for someone he had wronged. He pressed ahead. Did Paw Motes make mistakes in life? I’m sure he did. We all do. We’re flesh and blood and human and that’s what humans do, they make mistakes.
In my confession I’ve made mistakes in my past I’m not proud of. I was young and stupid (if you want to chalk it up to that). Not too long ago I found out that I had hurt my best friend’s feelings real bad several years ago and now there’s not a day goes by that I don’t think about that, I love him so very much and would never do anything intentionally to hurt him. I know some of the mistakes my wife had made in her life before I met her or got to know her and she knows mine, but Lord, we’ve been married going on 30 years now. We should know some of the things we’ve done wrong in our past. We don’t have the perfect Utopian marriage we’ve hurt each other’s feelings in the past. And yes, we have come close to deciding, should we go on or should we just go on? But we’ve worked past it, loved each other all the more and now I’m focused more on the next 30 years and what they’re going to be like with her.
Our pastor had said many times we need to be like the mule and put blinders on so we can stay focused on what God has in store for us. Not what’s around us; not what is behind us but where we are going.
The woman in the Bible that was caught “in the very act” of adultery. Jesus said, “He who is without sin, let him cast the first stone.” They all left one-by-one from the eldest to the youngest. He then asked the woman, “Where are thy accusers?” When she told him there are none, he simply said, “Neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more.” People tend to leave out the “Go and sin no more part.” But the most important thing is, she was forgiven of what she had done. (John 8:3-11) That is the water that had done gone under the bridge and out to the sea of forgiveness and forgetting.
But a lot of people in this world would prefer to hold onto that water and keep it under the bridge so they can always bring it up. Know what happens to water when it doesn’t move? It gets stale. So does the people holding on to it. Their life becomes stale, their marriage becomes stale, and most importantly their spiritual life becomes stale. What’s more is that stale water begins to stink. People holding water under a bridge and not letting it go out to the sea of forgiveness becomes stale and start to stink. Then they began to make all those around them stink. It just becomes a stinky life.
I want fresh water. Water that’s always moving. Water that is cool, clear and refreshing. That’s what I want for me and my family; clear, refreshing water that soothes the soul. Jesus is that water. That water of life. The true Water of Life forgives and forgets.
He not only experienced it in his life and ministry he even told about it in a parable. What was the father doing while his son was away squandering his half of the inheritance? He was watching and waiting for his son to return. The love he had for his son coming home far out weighed the sin he committed toward his father and the inheritance that was given him. (Luke 15:11-32)
That’s why it is always better to not only forgive yourself of what you’ve done in your past but also to forgive others of theirs.
Love you all!
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