Letting Your Past Be Your Past
“By faith the harlot
Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies
with peace.” Hebrews 11:31
There are few things
that hinder our future like our past.
So often we live our lives focused on what has been rather than what is
to come. Recently, I heard the story of two friends who were talking to each
other. One remarked to his friend and said, “Man, you look so depressed.
Whatever could you be thinking about to depress you so?” His friend quickly
replied, “My future.” “Your future?” his friend said, “Whatever in the world
would make it look so hopeless?” to
which his miserable friend sighed and unhappily said, “My past.”
Everyday people carry
scars from their past, and often these scars are still painful and tender.
Someone once said, “There’s no such thing
as a family that is not dysfunctional in some way.” We know that the family
ought to be a place where love, safety, and security can be found, but often it
is not. We hear terms today like co-dependency, chemical addiction, sexual and
verbal abuse, and all of these take part in families. The stats are
overwhelming. This leads to a lot of
hardship and economic problems, including providing proper health care.
There are a lot of
hurting people, with a lot of baggage that we encounter everyday. These are
people who have a past. They become labeled as losers, failures, trouble
makers, insecure, all because either they or someone else close to them made
mistakes. Guess what? Every single one of us here has a past. Every one of us
is carrying baggage from our past because the past influences us. However, it
is important to know that your past doesn’t have to keep you out of the plan of
God.
They say that
children of dysfunctional families take on one of four different roles; either
they become very controlling, or they are filled with self hatred; or they
become filled with low self worth and try to be people pleasers, or they try to
withdraw completely to themselves. These roles are taken on because of
their attempt to escape their past.
David Simmons, a
former cornerback for the Dallas Cowboys, tells about his childhood home.
His father, a military man, was extremely demanding, rarely saying a kind word,
always pushing him with harsh criticism to do better. The father had decided
that he would never permit his son to feel any satisfaction from his
accomplishments, reminding him there were always new goals ahead.
When Dave was a little boy, his dad gave him a bicycle, unassembled, with the command that he put it together. After Dave struggled to the point of tears with the difficult instructions and many parts, his father said, "I knew you couldn’t do it." Then he assembled it for him. When Dave played football in high school, his father was unrelenting in his criticisms. In the backyard of his home, after every game, his dad would go over every play and point out Dave’s errors. "Most boys got butterflies in the stomach before the game; I got them afterwards. Facing my father was more stressful than facing any opposing team." By the time he entered college, Dave hated his father and his harsh discipline. He chose to play football at the University of Georgia because its campus was further from home than any school that offered him a scholarship. After college, he became the second round draft pick of the St. Louis Cardinal’s Professional Football Club. Joe Namath (who later signed with the New York Jets), was the club’s first round pick that year. "Excited, I telephoned my father to tell him the good news. He said, ’How does it feel to be second?’" Despite the hateful feelings he had for his father, Dave began to build a bridge to his dad. Christ had come into his life during his college years, and it was God’s love that made him turn to his father. During visits home, he stimulated conversation with him and listened with interest to what his father had to say. He learned for the first time what his grandfather had been like-a tough lumberjack known for his quick temper. Once he destroyed a pickup truck with a sledgehammer because it wouldn’t start, and he often beat his son. This new awareness affected Dave dramatically. "Knowing about my father’s upbringing not only made me more sympathetic for him, but it helped me see that, under the circumstances, he might have done much worse. By the time he died, I can honestly say we were friends."
When Dave was a little boy, his dad gave him a bicycle, unassembled, with the command that he put it together. After Dave struggled to the point of tears with the difficult instructions and many parts, his father said, "I knew you couldn’t do it." Then he assembled it for him. When Dave played football in high school, his father was unrelenting in his criticisms. In the backyard of his home, after every game, his dad would go over every play and point out Dave’s errors. "Most boys got butterflies in the stomach before the game; I got them afterwards. Facing my father was more stressful than facing any opposing team." By the time he entered college, Dave hated his father and his harsh discipline. He chose to play football at the University of Georgia because its campus was further from home than any school that offered him a scholarship. After college, he became the second round draft pick of the St. Louis Cardinal’s Professional Football Club. Joe Namath (who later signed with the New York Jets), was the club’s first round pick that year. "Excited, I telephoned my father to tell him the good news. He said, ’How does it feel to be second?’" Despite the hateful feelings he had for his father, Dave began to build a bridge to his dad. Christ had come into his life during his college years, and it was God’s love that made him turn to his father. During visits home, he stimulated conversation with him and listened with interest to what his father had to say. He learned for the first time what his grandfather had been like-a tough lumberjack known for his quick temper. Once he destroyed a pickup truck with a sledgehammer because it wouldn’t start, and he often beat his son. This new awareness affected Dave dramatically. "Knowing about my father’s upbringing not only made me more sympathetic for him, but it helped me see that, under the circumstances, he might have done much worse. By the time he died, I can honestly say we were friends."
Rahab was a woman
with a past. Very little is mentioned about her in the scriptures. Yet she
is a fascinating character. This woman who came from a pagan background was
able to start over, and begin a journey that included her in receiving the
inheritance of Israel,
even to the point that she was included in the ancestry of the Messiah. This
woman with a past was even included in God’s Hall of Faith.
In Hebrews 11:31,
we read, “By faith the harlot Rahab
perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with
peace.” Talk about the wonderful grace of God. For those who say that
God’s grace can’t be found in the Old Testament need to look at Rahab. By
faith, she did not perish, and by faith, she received her inheritance.
This is the reason
she refused to let her past continue to control her life, to keep her down and
out, for she entered the second dimension of faith, she believed that God rewards
those that diligently seek Him. Maybe you came from that type of home,
don’t let your past hinder you. Maybe you have guilt hidden in your past from
something you’ve done, that the devil continues to tell you will keep you from
being used of God. You have a choice, who are you going to believe, Satan or
God, parents or God? If God will take a prostitute and include her in His plan,
He’ll do the same for you.
Terry Risser
Reflections:
1) Can you think of a specific area
of your past that continues to resurface?
2) What has God spoken about
your past that needs to be permanently remembered?
Copyright 2014- Terry Risser
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