As I read the Old Testament, I’m constantly struck by how often God uses the word, “remember.” In fact, this word seems to be one of the most important concepts throughout the history of God’s people. God seems to be constantly telling the Israelites to remember one event or another from their past. He even commands them to commemorate many elements from the past in ceremonies and festivals. The Jewish calendar is scattered with commemorative holidays, each tied back to a moment in time when a significant event happened.
Each one of us has a past. And as each year passes, the cumulative sizes of our pasts enlarge. I’d like to suggest four spiritual exercises that I’ve come across, which God has given us in order to deal with our pasts.
Gordon MacDonald, in his book, “A Resilient Life: You Can Move Ahead No Matter What,” offers 4 spiritual exercises which are commonly seen in the Bible with regard to people’s pasts.
(1) Repentance: This has to do with how we respond to the wrong decisions we have made and wrong attitudes we have held. Think of the attitude of the youngest son in Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:17-21).
(2) Forgiveness: This has to do with how we respond to the wrongs that have been done to us. Recall Joseph’s response to his brothers after years of misunderstanding, slavery, and prison due to their evil actions (Genesis 45:5-15; 50:19-21).
(3) Thankfulness/Praise: This has to do with the value that we give to what God has accomplished in our lives. Consider the words of thankfulness expressed by Moses after God had allowed the Israelite slaves to escape the onslaught of the Egyptian chariots and soldiers at the Red Sea (Exodus 15:1-19).
(4) Lessons learned: This has to do with the accumulation of wisdom. The primary reason why the wise man or woman stands out from the fool is because the wise person asks the question about his or her past, “What does it mean?” The wise have more than just accumulated facts about their lives. They reflect upon their past and evaluate it in light of what God has said and done. Recall Jesus’ condemnation of the religious leaders who, while they were “experts in the law,” squandered “the key to knowledge” by not understanding the meaning of the ‘facts’ they possessed (Luke 11:52).
It seems almost an understatement to say that our pasts are significant to our present lives and our futures. Each of us acts and makes decisions in the present out of the resources of our accumulated pasts. Our characters, attitudes, marital choices, friendships, views of God, and so much more are formed from the basis of our accrued years. There is certainly a danger to our being effective in the present if we live and remain in the past. But the answer is also not to ignore and close our eyes to our pasts. Instead, as MacDonald encourages, we must put into effect the spiritual exercises of (1) repentance, (2) forgiveness, (3) thankfulness/praise, and (4) lessons learned in order to live resilient lives. QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:
1. Which of the above 4 spiritual exercises is the easiest for you to neglect?
2. Does our culture encourage or discourage reflection? Explain.
3. Thinking about the 4th spiritual exercise mentioned above (lessons learned), what are ways that you’ve found to reflect upon and evaluate your past, allowing you to become wiser in life?Â
2 Comments on “4 spiritual exercises for dealing with your past”
This is beautifully said Pastor Brent. Thanks. It’s weird because my therapist (Joyce Williams, Light of the Rockies) and I were just discussing this very subject yesterday during my weekly session. A wonderful confirmation from God that I’m heading in the right direction. 🙂
I definately think that forgiveness has been my biggest struggle during my journey through therapy these past 5+ years. I don’t think I was intentionally neglecting but fearful instead that forgiving would make what happened to me okay. This, of course, is not true and it did come, eventually, through quite a long process. Now, it’s easier for me to forgive immediately when wronged, one way or another.
I think our culture definately discourages reflection. For those that do, we’re accused of living in the past and not moving on. I think it has more to do with whether you’re remembering something positive or negative. Most don’t want to face the negative of the human race so they choose to ignore it exisits. I think that’s why phrases like “when you’re given lemons, make lemonade” were created.
The ways I’ve reflected and evaluated my past is, as I’ve mentioned several times, through therapy. Having a personality disorder and depression kinda forces you in that direction. Had I not faced my past, I would never be able to become what God created me to be.
I, too, think that Forgiveness is difficult for most people, because people equate it with thinking that the wrong done to or by them is okay. This is not the case. Like you said, Pastor Brent, it’s about the attitude in your heart about it. Forgiveness is an attitude of “I am not going to harbor a grudge and have a hard heart about what you’ve done. What you did is not okay, but it’s not going to run my life any longer. I forgive you because it is the right thing to do.” It is not necessarily an easy place to come to, depending on what has happened to us.
I think Repentance can be difficult as well. It’s one thing to say “I’ve sinned,” but it’s another thing to own up to the our decisions, and face up to individual sins and the consequences of our choices. Because we find that we are not only accountable to God, but to other human souls. Repentance includes being accountable to other people. Our actions can, and almost always do, have a ripple effect.
You would think that it’s easy to be Thankful when things are on the up and up and you have everything you need, and sometimes maybe it is, but I was so struck last night (Wed.) when Pastor Doug visited. He took such a leap of faith and obedience to plant a church far away from a church, staff and friends. (And the other families that joined him in starting the church) It probably made him all the more thankful for every little ammenity– God, food, home, his wife, his children, his Calling….I could go on…I don’t know what could have been going on in his heart. But sometimes when we don’t have all that makes us comfortable, we can’t help but be more thankful.
Lessons Learned…sometimes we have to go through negative things or see loved ones go through negative things to accomplish these. Sometimes not…just time will tell.