"...this one
thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies
ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in
Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:13
I suspect that I am
not the only person who has regrets about some of the things I did or not do in
my past that I wish I could change. If I really sat here and thought hard about
it, I could fill page after page with regrets that I have related to the past
and it would help catapult me into having one of the biggest pity parties
imaginable. The main problem with that is that it wouldn't serve any real
purpose. You see, no matter how remorseful I am about what I did, or did not do, I can't change the past. Oh, I
can be apologetic for some of the things that I did and if I there are things
that I need to apologize for I should, but the fact still remains that I can't
change the past.
As I stated in an
earlier post, Austyn had some things that he was extremely remorseful about and
wanted to apologize for. In some cases he was unable to do so because some
people were unwilling to accept that God was capable of changing his life. This
became an almost paralyzing problem for Austyn because he felt he couldn't move
on unless things were made right. He had to learn that when he was
willing to submit his life to God, stop being disobedient and give God complete
control, God made him a new creation. As a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17),
he had been declared a child of God—redeemed, justified, sanctified and filled
with the grace and love of Christ himself. Even if some people were not willing
to accept his apologies, through God's justification he received a new standing
of divinely given righteousness which no man (or woman) could prevent...that
was the beginning.
Austyn did let go of the past, as best he could, and started
moving forward in the present working towards goals that would benefit his
future. He started taking courses through 'Work One' and was working towards
his GED (now called TASC-Test
Assessing Secondary Completion). He had mastered several areas and was really
only needing to brush up on his math. In parallel with this, He was attending
church at Bethany in Washington Indiana Washington
So, what is the
purpose of this post? As humans, we all need to let go of some of those things
in our past that we can not change. God taught me some valuable lessons while I
watched Austyn struggle in his attempt to rectify the wrongs he had committed. I
am guilty of having a "talk is cheap" attitude. I am the type of
person who finds it hard to take people's word that they are remorseful for the
things that they have done that have negatively affected my life. I want to see
something tangible to prove that they are remorseful. I want blood! That is the
carnal side of Justin and I know that it is not right and it is not Godly. That
is why I have had to repent for my attitude and allow God to show me that
sometimes the only thing some people can do is apologize. Like Austyn, they may
not have anything tangible to offer... but if God redeems, justifies and
sanctifies them, then that is all they need.
The other lesson
that goes hand-in-hand with moving from the past into the present and
ultimately into the future is that with God's guidance, we need to establish
goals that don't conflict with the Word and nature of God and allow God to help
us take the steps necessary to bring those goals to fruition. Sometimes we have
to set short term goals that we can accomplish relatively easily to give us the
confidence boosts necessary to accomplish even bigger goals. Just as Austyn was
working towards a short term goal of completing his GED, I don't think it was
much of a stretch to believe that he had a longer term goal of going into
ministry. I just think God has different plans for him.
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