Joy is Found in Dealing with the Past

For most of us, the past holds many good memories. The past can give us some perspective and teach us many things about living in the present. When the past helps us be more knowledgeable and wiser, it is good. But the past can also be a prison. Our failures can cause us to see ourselves as failures who cannot break the pattern of failure in our lives. Many people live today plagued by their past. So, how do we deal with the past? There are three principal ways people deal with the past. We can live in the past, we can resign to the past, and we can refuse to be dominated by the past. Recognize that while the past is an unchangeable part of our history, we are more than what the past has revealed about us, and we have a choice about how we deal with the memories of the past. The past can steal every ounce of a person’s joy. Paul shows us that if we are going to restore the joy, then we must figure out how to deal with the past biblically.