"We are not makers of history. We are made by history."
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Recently, I gave a talk to some students about history and its place in our lives. When we think back to school, many of us dread the idea of History class. To be honest, I am a history nerd. I love it. I took 18+ hours of history in college - some as electives. I destroy Jeopardy categories on History, and when playing, and usually dominating in Trivial Pursuit, I also move to the yellow piece. You guessed it, History! When I was in 3rd grade, I got a doll of Abraham Lincoln. Yes. An. Abraham. Lincoln. Doll. I could recite all the presidents AND the First Ladies in order by the time I was 10.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Recently, I gave a talk to some students about history and its place in our lives. When we think back to school, many of us dread the idea of History class. To be honest, I am a history nerd. I love it. I took 18+ hours of history in college - some as electives. I destroy Jeopardy categories on History, and when playing, and usually dominating in Trivial Pursuit, I also move to the yellow piece. You guessed it, History! When I was in 3rd grade, I got a doll of Abraham Lincoln. Yes. An. Abraham. Lincoln. Doll. I could recite all the presidents AND the First Ladies in order by the time I was 10.
Before I even started talking, I could sense the students asking, "Why do we even need to know about history?" Who cares what country had a treaty with whom and why this world leader said what and when . . . right?
Well, what we believe about life and ourselves directly correlates with what has happened to us . . .our experiences. The more I thought about it, the more I began to understand how powerful the idea of our past defining us really is. A painful break-up, or an award you won at school, all play a part in who we are now...why we think the way we think and act the way we act or believe...all because of what has happened to us in the past. History.
God continuously told the Israelites: Remember. There were feasts and memorial stones created simply to be reminded of what God did for them. God showed up in a mighty way and He did not want them to forget. He provided. He rescued. He healed. The proof of His faithfulness- even His very existence- was in the history He had with them….what He did in the past.
But in Philippians 3:13-14, Paul says: “I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
Why does Paul tell us to forget after God has told us so often to remember? I’ve recently heard it said: We forget what we should remember and remember what we should forget. The past that condemns us, God forgets. God does not bring up our past to remind us how we failed, but to reassure us how He has succeeded in our lives. How, even through our inabilities and mistakes, God is with us, guiding us into His future for our lives.
Learn from your past, but don’t dwell on it. History is important to study, but not to relive. Learn and move on - no matter what mistakes you have made. God’s best is ever increasing in our lives if we follow His guidance.
So, what can you learn from your past? What do you need to leave behind in order to press on toward something else?
God’s best for you is what He still has for you. Our past should remind us without condemning us, our present sustain us without totally satisfying us, and our future excite us for all the things He has yet to do.
