The Past Is Dead

Daily Gratitude Year 7-Day 203: Today, I am grateful for the past is dead. 

"If you don't let the past die, then it won't let you live." 

We can beat ourselves up with "should ofs" and "could ofs" but the past is just that... the past. 

We can learn from mistakes, but don't have to tattoo them on our minds, carry them on our shoulders or etch them into our hearts. We can be free of the burden of regret. 

Paul is my favorite on this topic. I smile everytime I am reminded that God say Saul's passion and boundless energy when he was killing Christians. Jesus met him on the road to Damascus and started the process of Saul/Paul changing teams. Saul/Paul never dreamed he would end up on Team Jesus, but he did. In fact, he would be one of the reasons the Gospel would spread, in spite of the opposition from so many different places. 

Paul relished the grace and mercy that Jesus poured into his life. He was a new man. The old was dead and gone. 

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. -Corinthians 15:10

Not without effect!  Don't you love that? 

Yes, he worked hard to make his life a daily offering. He was passionate and tireless in pursuing the work of "The Great Commission." He was perfectly imperfect, as he offered the shapeless clay of his life to the Master Potter. We can learn so much from Paul's example.

Yesterday's gone. Learn what you can, but don't let old failures cast shadows on today's mission. Seek the Son and follow the sun. 

Today, I am grateful for the past is dead.