Wednesday, August 31, 2022
“Forget about
what’s happened; don’t keep going over old history. Be alert, be present. I’m
about to do something brand-new. It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it? There it
is! I’m making a road through the desert, rivers in the badlands.” (Isaiah 43: 18 -19, The Message Bible)
On the weekend the Toronto Blue
Jays made a big splash of the 30th anniversary of their first World Series win
in 1992 prior to Saturday’s game. Yes, that win was a grand, unforgettable time
for anyone who was a Blue Jays’ fan back then. But I confess I found the
pre-game ceremony way too long, somewhat tedious, and over hyped. I am probably
in a minority of those who might think that. But it really struck home how long
ago that past was when they wheeled out some of the players who played in those
games. Boy, they looked old. I barely recognized some. They reminded me how old
I now am. And how much has changed in the world over those last thirty years,
both good and bad.
Reminiscing is fine. Sharing fond
memories is fine. Retelling family stories over and over again is fine. But
nostalgia is more than remembering. It is a vain attempt to want the present to
be like the past. It is the desire to live in the past. It is making the past
far more glorious and superior than it really was. It is about the “good old
days”. Nostalgia is the wistful longing
for something that no longer exists.
When we are stuck in the past, we may hold on to grudges, hurts, prejudices,
dislikes and such. We are less open to new opportunities, new ideas, different
ways of thinking. We might critically and negatively judge the present based on
old assumptions, old traditions, dated concepts.
There are things in all our pasts which we would be better to forget. Don’t keep
going over old history, says our text above. Some of us brood over, relive, hold on
to and can’t let things go which happened in the past. Yes, it is true that those who forget the
past tend to make the same mistakes, but I am referring to those things in the
past that haunt us, keep us stuck, hold us back, bind us to yesterday, and
keep us looking over our shoulders for whatever sins are catching up.
God has a good memory. “Can a mother forget the infant at her breast,
walk away from the baby she bore? But even if mothers forget, I’d never forget
you—never. Look, I’ve written your names on the backs of my hands.” (Isaiah
49: 15, The Message Bible)
But God also has a good ‘forgetry’, too. God desires to forget our sins,
to blot out the past that separates us from his Love. “He has removed
our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.” (Psalm
103:12, New Living Translation)
Our text urges us to be open, instead, to the future which God has in store
for us. God has something creatively fresh and vital if we trust in his
capacity to renew, bring resurrection out of death, bring life out of sin,
bring hope out of despair, bring joy out of sorrow. “But I focus on this one
thing: forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies I press on to reach
the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through
Christ Jesus, is calling us.” (Philippians 3: 13 -14, NLT)
The past should not encumber us, weigh us down nor lead us to despair
and hopelessness. We do need to remember the things of God’s Love and Grace but
these qualities empower our present and future. God’s Love through Jesus Christ
moves us forward and is indeed the road through the wilderness.
“Shouldn’t we expect far greater glory under the new way, now that the
Holy Spirit is giving life? If the old way, which brings condemnation, was
glorious, how much more glorious is the new way, which makes us right with God!
In fact, that first glory was not glorious at all compared with the
overwhelming glory of the new way. So if the old way, which has been replaced,
was glorious, how much more glorious is the new, which remains forever! Since
this new way gives us such confidence, we can be very bold.” (2 Corinthians 3: 8 -12, NLT)
Don’t ever forget that!
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