We all like to reminisce once in a while. Thinking about the good ole days brings us comfort. There is nothing wrong with that, as long as we do not dwell in the past too long. Some people allow themselves to be dominated by past experiences, preventing them from living productive lives in the present. We need to follow the example of Paul when it comes to the past.

Philippians 3:13 (ESV)
13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,

Paul had some skeletons in his closet. Nothing he did could erase the violence he perpetrated against Christians before he was converted to Christ. Luke tells us that Paul ravaged the church, entering house after house and dragging men and women away, committing them to prison (Acts 8:3). For this, Paul viewed himself as the chief of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15).

As bad as Paul’s actions were, he did not allow them to paralyze him, stopping him from being effective in doing the Lord’s work in the present. There are two dangers we must avoid regarding the past.

First, we must not allow previous mistakes to stop us from doing good in the present. Regarding sins we committed before we were Christians, when we obeyed the gospel, they were forgotten by God. Someone said that justification means, “just as if we have not sinned.” As Christians, we are a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17), and we must remember that God does not hold our past against us.

Regarding sins we have committed after we obeyed the gospel, they, too, are forgotten by God when we sincerely repent of them. The power of the blood of Christ is seen in that it continues to work for us for the rest of our lives. As long as we are walking in the light, when we repent of that sin and ask God for forgiveness, He is “faithful to forgive our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). As Christians, we can live our lives apart from the sorrow of past sins, knowing that God remembers them no more (Hebrews 8:12; 10:17).

The second danger we must avoid regarding our past actions is allowing past success to prevent us from striving to do good in the present. As congregations, we must not live in the glory days of the past. There are local churches, who did wonderful things in the eighties and nineties, that are clinging to the reputations they gained from past generations but are stagnant today. All they ever do is think and talk about the past while they continue to dwindle in number. We can do that as individual Christians as well.

After Paul’s first missionary journey, he did not sit back and glory in the success that he had. In-stead, he planned for a second journey, and a third one after that. He continued to “press on to-ward the goal” (Philippians 3:14). The words “I press” are from a present tense verb in active voice and indicative mood, better translated, “I keep on pressing.” That was the mentality of Paul. It did not matter how many souls he helped God win in the past, nor what great work he had done with local churches, Paul’s aim was to keep on pressing.

While there is nothing wrong with learning from our past, even allowing it to help us feel good in the present once in a while, we must determine not to let the past control our present.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.