As we enter into a new year, it’s easy to allow past failures to hinder us from future success. In the things that really matter, we can find more excuses for why we can’t then for why we can.
Thankfully, with a new year comes a clean slate, BUT… if we’re not careful, we’ll throw the baby out with the bathwater by trying to mentally erase our past rather than embracing it and learning from it.
God didn’t give you a past so you could waste it or throw it away!
You can’t fully understand your future until you learn to properly view your past. Let me give you three examples:
The Bible: Old Testament and New Testament
In recent years, there has been a push by some religious leaders to discount the importance of the Old Testament to our faith. Some even going so far as to say it is completely unnecessary. While we as God’s people no longer live under the covenant of law, but under the covenant of grace, the Old Testament is our past heritage that provides great value for the Christian. Here are a few undeniable contributions of the Old Testament to our faith:
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A full revelation. If we only had the New Testament, we would be missing more than half of our Bible.
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A complete understanding. You can never fully appreciate the excellent glory of grace until you understand the excruciating nature of the law.
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A historical and practical example. “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition.” (I Corinthians 10:11)
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A faithful schoolmaster. The law of the Old Testament is the bridge that reveals to us our need of grace and a Savior. Paul said, “I had not known sin, but by the law.” (Romans 7:7)
Although the Old Testament was not written to us, it was still written for us. Very little of what Jesus said in the Gospels or what Paul said in the epistles would have connected with their audiences without a proper understanding of the Old Testament past.
The Church: Older Generation vs. Younger Generation
Another example of the value of the past is found in the seeming conflict between the older and younger generation of Christians, pastors, and leaders. Some want to erase the past, others want to discount the effectiveness of the past, and some simply want to improve upon the past. One thing we cannot afford to do is forget the past.
Whether we like it or not, the spiritual heritage of our past is a foundation that everything we have is built upon. Yes, some things built from the past need a renovation, or at times a serious overhaul, but the foundation of Christ must stay the same. Because “if the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Psalm 11:3).
Our godly heritage is rich, although often flawed. Because the only people God has to use are imperfect ones like us. Yet he still chooses to use us… and them.
As Christians, while we must make our future more about Christ as less about lesser things. We cannot do that at the expense of dismissing our past, our heritage, and the faithfulness of imperfect men and women—those who have gone before us paving the way for the perpetuity of Christ’s Church into future generations.
Like those in our country who try to remove anything negative from our nation’s past by removing names and monuments of our founders, may we not fall into the same trap as Christians. We can learn from the past without repeating it, but we can’t benefit from the past by erasing it. In fact, we actually hurt ourselves if we try.
As we pass on faith to future generations of our children, may we highlight the positives more than the pain of our godly heritage. Our children need to understand the firm foundation of our faith despite our father’s flaws in carrying it out.
The Family: Your Past Matters to Their Future
Sharing with your kids your story puts their story in proper perspective. They are not an island. They are part of something that God has and is doing much bigger than themselves. They need to know this and they need to hear it from you.
Our kids need to know the story that they’ve been born into by learning to value previous generations of wisdom and influence. Because how can we expect them to carry on a story that they don’t even know they’re a part of?
We have to help our kids learn to put their own story into context. The world did not begin when they were born, nor will it end when they die. Their life is not just about them as an independent link disconnected from the chain of generations. Their life is not the whole story, but just a small part of a much bigger story that God is writing through generations. They must understand this.
If they misunderstand their past, they will be easily misguided in their future.
Sometimes going backwards is the key to moving forwards. This is the case with our kids. At some point, they need to know our story, our personal testimony, our history, our formation of who we’ve become. For some this may be exciting. For others, maybe painful. But for all, necessary. Including the highs and lows is an important part of allowing your story to help shape theirs.
I did this with my boys recently by taking them on a “Story Context Trip” to help them understand and see firsthand some of the places, people, and values that shaped me when I was their age. (This is a part of a journey called The Primal Path that I’m going through with my boys that intentionally helps transition them from boyhood to manhood before they leave home. You can see a bit of our personal journey here.) This was both beautiful and powerful to be able to expand their understanding of the bigger narrative that they are a part of as a Linder.
So what about you?
Are you allowing your past to define your future, or inform it? You may think your past is either helpful or just hurtful, but it is necessary. It is not to be discarded or discounted. If it weren’t for your past, you wouldn’t need God’s greatest gift to you—grace. Maybe it’s past time for you to take time to process your past rather than suppress it.
For many people, their future is on life support without their past. Because your past is the doorway to your future, and you can’t get to your future without it no matter how painful or messy it may have been. I am a firm believer that in every person’s life, including yours, God is using everything that has happened, both the good and bad, to draw you closer to him… if you’ll let him.
You can’t understand your future by trying to erase your past. So don’t try to erase it, embrace it instead. Because you can’t fully appreciate your future until you see your past in its proper perspective. God has given you a story of his goodness and grace through your past—just like he did for the Israelites in the Old Testament, just like he has for the Church, and just like he has for your family. Don’t waste it by trying to erase it.
“Never be a prisoner to your past. It was a lesson, not a life-sentence.” – Anonymous
Never let your past dictate, define, determine, or destroy your future. Let it inform it with experience and perspective.
God delights in using the past. And he’s been doing it successfully for a long, long time. Don’t think for a moment that your past has the power to mess up God’s plan.
