For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. (Exodus 12:12)
I have of late been reflecting on God’s call and someone’s past when it occurred to me that God’s call is many times so drastic that it seeks to bury our past in its excellence. A past with its own claim to glory that it seeks to lower the impact of that call is a hindrance to God’s workings in my life. The source of which is the pushing and shoving for prominence between the call and the past that it took one from.
It is imperative for us to accept the fact that not many are really ashamed of the past they came from. And I am not only talking about some of us who did not sink into depravity as we got saved in our childhood. Many were so defiled that the defilement attained a glory that seems to overshadow the deliverance from it. Or haven’t you seen people who will always dwell on what they were before getting saved as the background of their preaching though they got saved many years ago? Or did God deliver them from their past yet they refused to deliver that past from their mouths.
Must you always prove to people how professional you were as a prostitute or robber to convince people that Christ saved you? Must you go into the details of how you were raped to prove forgiveness? Must you remind people your wicked escapades to share the Gospel? What is there to remember anyway?
For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. (Romans 6: 20, 21)
A case in point is this former grave robber who is always at a street corner with a banner telling people his exploits before getting saved. You wonder what is there to celebrate about stealing coffins and hiding in one that it must be repeated every time, even with a CD on sale!
Do you remember why people who left Egypt as adults died in the wilderness? It was precisely that. They were preoccupied with where they came from. They glorified their slavery. They demeaned the experience God was taking them through.
When a past gains as much prominence as the present or future, it becomes a god that must be dealt with before we can progress. And many times it is us that God will deal with.
I compare this with a vehicle with a rear view mirror that is bigger than the windscreen. Imagine peering to see through the miniature windscreen as you enjoy unhindered view of where you are coming from?
It is impossible to grow with such a view of the Christian life.
Breakthroughs we will experience, again and again; But not only for the purposes of testimonies. Their main purpose is to help our focus on what God has for us ahead.
Paul had had a glorious past. His CV was the envy of most. Yet what do we see him saying about it? He describes it and then trashes it.
But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, (Philippians 3: 7, 8)
We see him in 2 Corinthians 12 boasting of something else, his sufferings for Christ, but not as a badge of honor. It is simply the product of him walking with God.
For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. (1Corinthians 2:2)
That is what he preached; the cross and its power to rescue us from our past. Any mention he did on the past was to direct people to that cross wherever the opportunity arose; from prison to the courthouse to the street to the Areopagus.
There are others who glorify their past above their present, the backsliders and those who have refused to grow. They are always talking about their past glorious experiences in obedience. They are always glorying in their past miracles, fasts, scripture memory, witnesses ad infinitum.
I know of a few motivational pastors who parade their scripture memory yet present no new verses memorized. In fact, some of the ones they quote have been quoted until they are incorrect. It seems that they do not learn anything new from their walk with Christ as even their sermons are recycled all the time. No wonder many have to have a sermon guide for the whole year, even pretending it is the word in season when it is really nothing but a pursuit of relevance over revelation.
God is glorified with a vibrant relationship with Him. The purpose of our past, and any other past for that matter, is to help this living relationship to thrive.
Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. (1Corinthians 10:11)
The context of the verse, as well as 2 Peter 2, deals with the purpose of the past as aiding us in living the present.
It goes without say therefore that if your past is as prominent as your present, it has become an idol that must be destroyed. It means that you really are not worshipping God, the I AM but the experience He took you from or through.
If there is nothing new happening in your Christian experience, it is very possible that between you and God, one of you went ahead of the other. Your past is therefore a vestige of those times you walked together. That is why you must celebrate it. Why not just reestablish the connection?
How current is your testimony?
Do you realize that God can judge you for that testimony when its glory competes with His?
I have of late been reflecting on God’s call and someone’s past when it occurred to me that God’s call is many times so drastic that it seeks to bury our past in its excellence. A past with its own claim to glory that it seeks to lower the impact of that call is a hindrance to God’s workings in my life. The source of which is the pushing and shoving for prominence between the call and the past that it took one from.
It is imperative for us to accept the fact that not many are really ashamed of the past they came from. And I am not only talking about some of us who did not sink into depravity as we got saved in our childhood. Many were so defiled that the defilement attained a glory that seems to overshadow the deliverance from it. Or haven’t you seen people who will always dwell on what they were before getting saved as the background of their preaching though they got saved many years ago? Or did God deliver them from their past yet they refused to deliver that past from their mouths.
Must you always prove to people how professional you were as a prostitute or robber to convince people that Christ saved you? Must you go into the details of how you were raped to prove forgiveness? Must you remind people your wicked escapades to share the Gospel? What is there to remember anyway?
For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. (Romans 6: 20, 21)
A case in point is this former grave robber who is always at a street corner with a banner telling people his exploits before getting saved. You wonder what is there to celebrate about stealing coffins and hiding in one that it must be repeated every time, even with a CD on sale!
Do you remember why people who left Egypt as adults died in the wilderness? It was precisely that. They were preoccupied with where they came from. They glorified their slavery. They demeaned the experience God was taking them through.
When a past gains as much prominence as the present or future, it becomes a god that must be dealt with before we can progress. And many times it is us that God will deal with.
I compare this with a vehicle with a rear view mirror that is bigger than the windscreen. Imagine peering to see through the miniature windscreen as you enjoy unhindered view of where you are coming from?
It is impossible to grow with such a view of the Christian life.
Breakthroughs we will experience, again and again; But not only for the purposes of testimonies. Their main purpose is to help our focus on what God has for us ahead.
Paul had had a glorious past. His CV was the envy of most. Yet what do we see him saying about it? He describes it and then trashes it.
But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, (Philippians 3: 7, 8)
We see him in 2 Corinthians 12 boasting of something else, his sufferings for Christ, but not as a badge of honor. It is simply the product of him walking with God.
For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. (1Corinthians 2:2)
That is what he preached; the cross and its power to rescue us from our past. Any mention he did on the past was to direct people to that cross wherever the opportunity arose; from prison to the courthouse to the street to the Areopagus.
There are others who glorify their past above their present, the backsliders and those who have refused to grow. They are always talking about their past glorious experiences in obedience. They are always glorying in their past miracles, fasts, scripture memory, witnesses ad infinitum.
I know of a few motivational pastors who parade their scripture memory yet present no new verses memorized. In fact, some of the ones they quote have been quoted until they are incorrect. It seems that they do not learn anything new from their walk with Christ as even their sermons are recycled all the time. No wonder many have to have a sermon guide for the whole year, even pretending it is the word in season when it is really nothing but a pursuit of relevance over revelation.
God is glorified with a vibrant relationship with Him. The purpose of our past, and any other past for that matter, is to help this living relationship to thrive.
Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. (1Corinthians 10:11)
The context of the verse, as well as 2 Peter 2, deals with the purpose of the past as aiding us in living the present.
It goes without say therefore that if your past is as prominent as your present, it has become an idol that must be destroyed. It means that you really are not worshipping God, the I AM but the experience He took you from or through.
If there is nothing new happening in your Christian experience, it is very possible that between you and God, one of you went ahead of the other. Your past is therefore a vestige of those times you walked together. That is why you must celebrate it. Why not just reestablish the connection?
How current is your testimony?
Do you realize that God can judge you for that testimony when its glory competes with His?
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