Let Go, Forget the Past, but not All of It

Did you ever do something really stupid and then come to regret it? It could be in any area of life including spiritual, criminal, physical, sexual or even causing another physical harm. If you said no to this question then you must be Jesus Christ. He is the only person I know of that has never made a mistake.

The past can tend to come up and inhale your head. How you handle your own mind determines whether you forget the negative past or hold onto it.

Let’s begin by looking at an example of someone who is continuously reminded of his failures. Alex Rodriquez of the New York Yankees has consistently had problems when it comes to the post season. He will be a tremendous hitter through out the year, but as soon as the playoffs begin he can’t hit. The media constantly reminds him of how poorly he hits when October arrives. To have someone constantly remind you of failure can be detrimental to the believing of any individual. Winners are able to focus on the positive in spite of the negative reminders. Back to Alex. As of this writing Alex is having a tremendous post season. Why is he doing better than previous years? I don’t know if the injury to his hip helped to get him more relaxed and focused? Perhaps he read Joe Torre’s book and comments about himself and decided to change his life. Whatever happened I don’t know, I just know that he’s changed  his mindset. He seems more relaxed about playing in the post season. He’s no longer just about Alex he’s more about team. In a recent interview he said that there were 5 guys he looked up to. Guys who had been to the playoffs before whose example he followed. The past is the past if it’s negative it needs to be forgotten. Alex seems to have done that. In fact Espn recently called him the new Mr. October. That’s a reference that was never given to Alex Rodriquez until he forgot the past and focused on what he does best, hit the baseball out of the park.

There are two men in the Bible  that made huge mistakes and went through majoring grieving because of those errors. They are Peter and Judas. Let’s look at the lives of these two men and see what happened to them to cause this grief. We’ll also look at what they did with their minds after they made the mistake.

It’s well known that Judas betrayed Jesus Christ, and turned him over to the authorities. This major mistake would cause Judas his life. Judas at one point was a great believer who saw and performed signs miracles and wonders as one of the twelve apostles.

Luke 9:1-6 1Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. 2And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick. 3And he said unto them, Take nothing for your journey, neither staves, nor scrip, neither bread, neither money; neither have two coats apiece. 4And whatsoever house ye enter into, there abide, and thence depart. 5And whosoever will not receive you, when ye go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet for a testimony against them. 6And they departed, and went through the towns, preaching the gospel, and healing every where.

At one point Judas was right in there healing people and and doing the Will of God. Once the betrayal came Judas quickly realized the error he made and took the blood money he made and cast it down at the chief priests feet.

 ^{Matthew 27: 3-5} Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, ⁴Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that.⁵And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.

Judas did not hang himself (impale himself on a stake) right away he stayed around for a while. Remember, Jesus when he was resurrected was seen of the twelve, of which Thomas was the one who was not present. Judas was still present. What conversations he had with Jesus Christ and the other disciples at the time no one knows, and the Word doesn’t say. I believe he would not have been in the group if he was not forgiven. Thats right God forgave Judas for the evil that the devil put on Judas heart. Judas was obviously full of remorse he cast the blood money that he earned at the feet of the high priests.  Judas would have  been there on the day of pentecost recieving the gift of holy spirit if he did not commit suicide.

Judas was never able to forget the past. It was to much for him to handle realizing that he was the reason God’s only son was put to death. His mind must have been full of turmoil and emotion. He needed to replace these horrible emotional feelings with the promises God has in his Word. Remember when God forgives he remembers it no more and it is cast as far as the east is from the west. There are promises Judas could have claimed to help over come his major mistake. He could have gone to the old testament and looked at the life of David who was a man after God’s own heart. Even after having a man put to death to get to Bathsheba, David was able to come back to God. Judas could have studied his life, read the Psalms he wrote changed his mind, and gotten born again on the day of pentecost.  Remember I said we want to forget the past but not all of it. Judas also could have gone in his mind to the good things he did for God. The Word he had spoken when he was sent out by Jesus with the other eleven.  He could have remembered the healing of different individuals on this journey.   Keeping the victories and God’s deliverance in his mind would have helped him overcome the negative thoughts. Judas had to be a person of great quality or God never would have had Jesus Christ pick him in the first place. Judas allowed his emotions to overwelm him which eventually opened him up to be driven to suicide.

Peter on the hand was able to overcome the mistake he made.  Remember he denied the Lord Jesus six times. Then went into major grief for doing what he said he would not do.

Matthew 26:74-75  Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew. And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly.

Peter was deeply upset at denying Jesus and wept bitterly at what he had done.  It’s what Peter did with his mind afterwards that is important. Denying your Lord and savior is a big deal and had to be hard for Peter to overcome.
He obviously made the change because on the day of Pentecost he boldly spoke in tongues, and confronted the naysayers with the truth. He changed his mind and eliminated any fears. He went from being behind closed doors in the Gospels to boldly confronting those responible for the death of Jesus Christ.

It’s all what you do with your mind after you make a mistake that counts. Peter was able to go to the Word of God and change his thinking. He most likely remembered the different things God had done for him. Perhaps he read some Psalms I don’t know.  I just know he overcame his grief  and moved on with his life.

What about you? What do you want to overcome? Deliverance is available to those who desire it. All it takes is lining your thinking up with what God thinks about you.  Remember all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer believing you shall recieve. Matthew 21:22

Psalm 139:14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

We are wonderfully made don’t ever forget that. See there are certain things God wants you to remember. He wants you to remember how wonderfully he made you. He wants you to remember all the things he has done for you. So when your brain tries to rise up and inhale your head, you  have His Word to chase the negative thoughts away with.

So forget the past just not all of it.