Warning! Holding On To The Past ,The One Thing Slowly Killing You

The Apostle spoke of his

1. birth right privileges – an Israelite on both sides and from one generation to another, a stock of Israel and yet a tribe of Benjamin.
2. He boast of his relations to the covenant – for he was circumcised on the eight-day.
3. For learning – a Pharisee and the son of a Pharisee he was (Acts 23:6, Phil 3:5)
4. He had a blameless conversation record – teaching the righteousness which is of the law, blameless.
5. He had been an active man for his religion – concerning zeal, persecuting the church. (Acts 8:1-3; Phil 3:6)
6. Present at Stephen’s stoning (Acts 7:58; 8:1)
7. Stoned at Lystra, was supposed to be dead (Acts 14:19-20)
8. His imprisonment/s (Acts 16:16-25)
9. His arrest in the temple (Acts 21:26-36)
10. His shipwrecks on the island of Malta (Acts 27:13 – 28:1)
11. The thorn in his flesh and him being constantly buffered by Satan

Yet he says, “Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord….and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.” (Phil 3:8) The Apostle here proposes himself for an example of trusting in Christ only and not anything else.

He even suggested if any man could boast of their accomplishment, he had even more reason to do so, yet would not for the better which he was awaiting to gain that was far more precious and valuable than anything else he would lose.

Repeating the past prevents you from building on it ~ Dan Rockwell

Why Holding On To Your Past Is Like A Cancer That’s Slowly Killing You

What do you repeatedly do or say? Who are you becoming? These are very important questions that you must begin to ask yourself starting right now.

These are also very popular sayings that we become what we repeatedly do and you keep on doing the same thing you’ve always done and you will keep on getting the same results you have always gotten.

1.  The past is likened to ‘dung!’

Imagine holding filth or dung in your heart and mind for however many years, whether through un-forgiveness, pain, disappointment, and break-up in your relationship [name more here….] These are the cancer causing agents that are slowly eating away at the core of your being. Your healing begins when you let them go and you begin to apply to the word of God for healing of your soul.

Constantly harping on the past failures does nothing more than set up road blocks and hindrances to door of opportunity for success that is waiting to open up in your life. You hold on to past success is inertia in itself because it not only prevents you from building on it, but it blinds your vision to the future plans and possibilities that you are mostly capable of.

3.  You are taken hostage and you become a prisoner to your past

There is no freedom when you are imprisoned and your space is very limited! Just imagine waking up each day and the real person on the inside of you is held in captivity not able to smile, laugh, to explore life or to even explore who he/she is and is capable of becoming. This person is blinded by darkness and lives in obscurity with little or no light being able to penetrate the soul. Light is life. Light is love.

4.  Blaming others for everything and not taking responsibility for anything

Holding to the past in many instances where it is really negative, is playing the blame game over and over again – blaming everyone else rather than taking ownership and responsibility for the role that you played in your situation being the way that it is.

5.  Being hard and mean to yourself

Being mean to yourself is not just about holding on to negative emotions, it also engaging in behaviors that are harmful and dangerous to your emotional and physical health. It produces toxins in the body that brings about actual sickness and diseases. There is also a negative spin off into relationships that can be hurtful to others around you.

God wants the best for you

“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things, which are before. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14)

Paul’s resume’ was impressive indeed! But he tells us what it was that he reached after: it was the knowledge of Christ Jesus, not an experimental acquaintance but a believing experiential relationship with Christ as his Lord. It was not a speculative but a practical knowledge of Him.

He quit his privileges as a Jew and a Pharisee by not looking back on them as anything that would add value to his present or future life but would allow his expression to rise with a holy triumph that Christ is all, in all and above all that anyone would ever need.

Let us therefore quit looking back and press our way forward for the prize that awaits us in Christ. Forgive yourself! Forgive others! Indeed, your future awaits you!