Forget Your Past Regrets and Never Look Back!
“Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect… Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. "Philippians 3:13-14
Written By: Bernie Miranda
We all have regrets. “There is none, no not one,” who’s immured to the corruption of what this mortal nature leaves us in life to reckon with. The greatest champions of history were men and women who had to fight this fight of faith with regrets, short comings, and weaknesses; yet, they refused to retreat to isolation or self-pity: They turned from the error of their ways, made right as many wrongs as possible and never looked back. Drawling from the well of their inner most strength’s, which compelled them to service at the start, they marched forward.
Jacob, King David, Solomon, Samson, the Apostle Paul just to name a few, who in the mist of their greatest personal failures laid hold of their inner gifts and callings, from which there is no repentance, and finish the race amidst the hardships and consequences of their stained reputations. God met them their again in the battle field with great victories and glorious hallelujahs. What a merciful, awesome God we serve!
“This Man’s Life”
Recently the nation mourned the passing of Senator Ted Kennedy who died of brain cancer at the age of 77. Despite my conservative political views of this notoriously liberal senator, I can’t help but to admire the man. Known for his personal failures posted on newsstands around the world, his red-faced temper pounding his fist on the tables in the halls of congress; yet, there was another side of Teddy’s character most Americans never met. Beneath the volcanic eruptions and the stormy seas of his life there was this kind, compassionate family man, with a great since of humor, who had a tenacious calling to help the poor and the discriminated members of our Constitution. I realized watching his memorial service: You really don’t see the full scope of someone’s life until you see who shows up at their funeral and what is said by those who knew them best.
I was moved by the story of his two sons’ of a faithful, loving father. Though tough times may have reached their boiling point, Teddy wouldn’t let his enormous shadow blind him from his children at their most critical moments. His eldest son told how his father took him on a hike as a child when he had the use of one leg. He reached a point where he couldn’t go on. But Teddy told him, “There is nothing you can’t do. We are going to make it together up that hill if it takes us all day. I will carry you if I have to. Together we can do it!” (CNN coverage)
Kennedy may have been a deeply devoted Father but he was just as devoted to his public life. All in attendance agreed, Senator Kennedy was a man on a mission. He lived life as though time was not on his side. “He just had to get it done”, one political friend said. He was a man of prayer and faith who knew why he was here. He took the time out of his very demanding schedule to write encouraging letters; somtimes to people he didn’t even know. Like the time he wrote a personal letter to every family who suffered through 911. Because of his own suffering he understood their loss and pain. (CNN coverage)
“Where there is life there is still hope.”
One of the greatest test of his character was that Teddy couldn’t just live contently under the shadow of tragedy and regrets; there was just too much work still to be done. His greatest regret was losing the presidency in 1980 for leaving the scene of an accident in Chappaquiddick Island in 1969 resulting in the drowning death of campaign aide Mary Jo Kopechne.
His lapse of Judgment probably, fueled by alcohol, would prove years later to be his presidential undoing. The American people were not ready to forgive Kennedy, even after 21 years of service; eight-teen of those years he had served as a senator of Mass. prior to his presidential campaign.
President Obama’s speech about Kennedy’s legacy left me feeling a since of enormous hope that God can still pull out that which lies in my better nature and find something I can do with the rest of my life that can bring him glory.
President Obama's Speeh at Kennedy's Memoral Service
"It is a string of events that would have broken a lesser man. And it would have been easy for Teddy to let himself become bitter and hardened; to surrender to self-pity and regret; to retreat from public life and live out his years in peaceful quiet. No one would have blamed him for that.
"But that was not Ted Kennedy. As he told us, "& [I]ndividual faults and frailties are no excuse to give in and no exemption from the common obligation to give of ourselves." …Through his own suffering, Ted Kennedy became more alive to the plight and suffering of others; the sick child who could not see a doctor; the young soldier sent to battle without armor; the citizen denied her rights because of what she looks like or who she loves or where she comes from. The landmark laws that he championed -- the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, immigration reform, children's health care, the Family and Medical Leave Act all have a running thread. Ted Kennedy's life's work was not to champion those with wealth or power or special connections. It was to give a voice to those who were not heard; to add a rung to the ladder of opportunity; to make real the dream of our founding. He was given the gift of time that his brothers were not, and he used that gift to touch as many lives and right as many wrongs as the years would allow." (President Obama, Copyright © 2009 ABC News Internet Ventures)
What are you doing with the Gift of Time?
Kennedy discovered after his greatest political loss, though time may not heal all wounds, time heals. In spite of all his failures, Senator Ted Kennedy drew from the well of optimism, turned his sail with the winds of time and turned his political career as a senator into one of our nation’s longest running. He signed nearly one thousand laws, and penned more than three hundred laws himself.
Persistence always wins over failures. Just ask Tomas Edison how many years passed, how many failures he had to endure before the light bulb brightened up homes around the world? Oh, the wonderful redemptive power of time and persistence, when one puts his hand to the plow and never looks back.
62But Jesus said to him, "No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." Matt. 9:62
I’m convinced Kennedy found comfort and strength in the words of the Apostle Paul: “Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect… 13Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13-14
As long as we are still alive there is something God has placed ahead of us; something to reach for. You may feel today you can’t go on, but Jesus is saying, “Together we can do it; we can finish this race, even if I have to carry you; together we can do anything!”
What are you doing with the gift of time you have been given? Are you spending it by serving God and others or are you wasting time by living frozen in the past? When we visit that wasteland of poor choices and regrets, let it be to remember what lessons we have learned there not to be paralyzed in time by it.
“Where is Your Yodel”?
Ted Kennedy’s last few days were spent sailing with the Kennedy clan, which he loved to do. He yodeled as they sailed along the way. He learned to yodel on a trip the family took to Switzerland and he’s been yodeling ever since.
The Kennedy children loved to hang out with their Uncle Teddy. “They know at Uncle Teddy‘s house there’s going to be a lot of fun and laughing,” said Caroline Kennedy (JFK’s daughter) about her legendary uncle. (CNN coverage)
When Kennedy was asked in a 1988 interview by Larry King about the 1969 Chappaquiddick Island tragedy he said, “There was a lot of suffering, I can’t imagine how others have suffered (her family)…but I can’t spend time looking back. You can’t look back in this business and survive. I just went back to the senate and helped as many people as I could with the rest of my life.”
With the cool sea breeze blowing in his face, every wrinkle a lesson learned there, children laughing swinging with the rigging, he said his final goodbyes as the cancer had its way with him. Putting his hand on the shoulder of Joseph P Kennedy II (RFK’s eldest son) he said, “A yodel is all I have left.” (CNN coverage as told by Joseph P Kennedy II)
Kennedy passed away at his home in Hyannis Port, Mass., in the late hours of Tuesday August 25th.
Teddy left us doing what he loved to do the best. In the end he still had a yodel left in him. I believe there is a yodel left in everyone of us if we dig down deep enough. Where is your yodel today?
Unfortunately, not everyone chooses not to waste one’s life by looking back. I’m reminded of another life that didn’t end so graciously. Remember Lot’s wife?
“Remember Lot’s wife,” Jesus said. Luke 17:32
Even though the Bible says Lot was a righteous man he made some poor choices that affected his family. When he chose to live and do business in Sodom and Gomorrah he never knew it would come with a great price. He ended up losing almost everything, even his wife. When Lots' wife looked back at the life she was leaving she was turned into a pillar of salt. Have you ever asked God, “Why salt?” I believe God has given me the answer and how the Dead Sea relates to Lot’s wife.
The land in the area surrounding the Dead Sea is full of salt rocks. Some historians believe the South East end of the Dead Sea was where the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah once stood, now under water. Historians believe salt may have been one of the commodities that made Sodom and Gomorrah rich. When Lots wife was turned into a pillar of salt, she became part of the landscape she was trying to leave; trapped by her past forever.
Moreover, the Dead Sea is one of the lowest places on earth, like a pit. No water can exit out of the Dead Sea it can only enter where it is trapped forever. Therefore the Dead Sea is one of the dirtiest large water masses in the world because it can’t empty it’s self of old dirty water. How many of us are like the Dead Sea? We never empty ourselves of old memories of past failures so we live a life polluted by the dirty water of regrets, failures, and misfortune.
“Don’t Look Back.”
25Let your eyes look directly ahead And let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you.26Watch the path of your feet And all your ways will be established. Proverbs 4:25- 26
The visiting Angels warned Lot and his wife not to look back, but in spite of all the signs and warnings Lots' wife looked back, as a result she was turned into a pillar of salt. She just became part of the landscape and blended into the wasteland of sin and poor choices she was trying to leave, because she looked back. And there she stayed lost and trapped in the past forever without ever enjoying the future God had planned for her and her family.
If she would have only left the city of sin and regrets from her heart and not looked back, oh how much different her future would have been for her and her family. Her two younger daughters and husband Lot never fully recovered from her loss. All because she wouldn't let go of the memories of what she was leaving behind.
Perhaps, it was the concern for her eldest children, who refused to leave with them. Or was it the beautiful home she worked so hard to perfect that held her heart hostage causing her to look back? Maybe, it was the security of the city and the fear of the unknown that caused her to look back in longing, or was it the pleasures of sin city that captured her heart and mind one last time.
How many of us are becoming part of the wasteland we are trying to leave; trapped by past poor choices and regrets because we keep looking back? People, places, or things hold captive our hearts and tear at our emotions because we won't let go. As a result, we never enjoy the moment because we're living in the past. We can’t move forward if were looking back.
God is doing a New Thing!
18"Do not call to mind the former things, Or ponder things of the past. 19"Behold, I will do something new, Now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it?"(Isaiah 43:19)
17Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come (2 Cor. 5:17).
Brothers and Sisters, it's time to let go of whatever we are allowing to hold our hearts hostage; we need to move forward to the bright future promised to us in Christ. We need to press forward to the upward calling God has placed before us as a goal. God is always doing a new thing. If we are in Christ all things are new as the old passes away a in our lives.
16"But no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results. 17"Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved." Matt.9:16-17
We need new wine and new wine skins. If we try to put in the old with the new they will not mix together. We must throw out completely the old ways and prepare a whole new vessel of honor for Christ. How many of us want God to do a new thing in our life but we are not ready to throw out that old life we’ve been living? We need a new attitude; a new mind; a new heart. Some new suits to go with the new thing God wants to do in our lives, so we can serve Him and others for God’s Kingdom and Glory.
God is asking us today not to look back from whence we came, but to fix our eyes on Jesus the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrew 12:2). There will always be those consequences we’ll have to live with because of our poor choices. Though time may not heal all wounds, time does heal if we press forward to the goal set before us in Christ Jesus. He promises to complete the work He started in us as we love and trust in Him. Let’s fix our eyes in faith rejoicing at the glorious future we have in Jesus?
Everything in our lives, the good, the bad and the ugly, if we surrender it to God from this day forward to do that which brings him glory, he promises to work it ALL out for our good. Peace! May God richly bless you as you daily live for his glory!
28And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. 29For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; 30and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. 31What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? Romans 8:28-31 |
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