Don't allow your past to take away your joy!

Sunday, my opening thoughts had to do with "Don’t allow your past to take away your joy." I wanted to take a few moments to review, as I know there were a few that missed the whole thing and others that didn't get to hear all of it. As I think of the story of Lot and his family leaving Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19, Lot's wife comes to mind and why she dissobeyed God and looked back. Maybe there were friends back in the past she couldn’t leave behind. Maybe there were pieces of furniture in her home that she couldn’t bear to forget. Maybe there were memories that she couldn’t close the book on. Maybe there were family members she had to forsake. Whatever the longings, Lot’s wife lingered in her soul, and she turned back and turned around to her past. Satan, the father of lies, wants to bury you beneath the burden of guilt. Jesus Christ wants you to begin again with a grace that sin cannot defeat. A woman came to me once and asked, "Can God forgive me? I answered, "Yes, God can! But what you are really asking is ‘Can I forgive myself?’" God is more willing to forgive us than we are to forgive ourselves and forget the past.“Friends, don't get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I've got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward - to Jesus. I'm off and running, and I'm not turning back.” Philippians 3:13-14 (Message)Charles Allen said, "Life is a journey. If you go someplace, you must leave some place. You cannot both go and stay. . . We are compelled to leave some experiences in order to have others." We cannot walk into the future, if we can’t leave the past. We cannot reach for tomorrow while holding on to yesterday! Don’t let where you have been determine where you are going. Don’t let the past steal your joy!