Today’s Devotional: “Move Beyond the Past”

If we don’t learn to deal with our past, it can really throw us off. The main problem most people have with their past is that it impacts both their present and future.

When it comes to the past, there’s a common struggle between wanting to remember it and wanting to forget it.

We need to remember our history so we don’t repeat the same mistakes. There’s a well-known quote that says, “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.” And this has been proven true over time.

But the Bible also gives us another reason to remember the past: to recall what God has done for us so we can step into our future with faith.

This is what Joshua reminded the people to do so that they could enter the inheritance that God had given them in the Promised Land.

“You have seen all that the Lord your God has done to all these nations because of you, for the Lord your God is He who has fought for you.” (Joshua 23:3)

But we also can’t let the past hold us back from moving forward. This is what the Apostle Paul tells us.

“I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me … forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:12-14)

So then, how can we prevent our past from blocking the great future God has for us? It is through confession and repentance—asking God for forgiveness, then turning away from our wrongs and turning toward God and His ways.