I had a strange dream last night and I haven't figured it out.....possibly don't need to, but I thought if I began to write about it, there might be something to learn from it. Let's see.... I think it might be related to my last post 'Travelling Light'.
Apparently I had gone back to a place where I had lived previously. I had gone with Colin and our daughter, Cathy but I was going to be travelling home ahead of them. As in most dreams things are muddled and not clearly defined but what I found myself doing was sorting through some belongings that we had left in a previous apartment. Other people who we seemed to know had recently moved out or were moving out of the house, and my task was to go through some things that we had left behind when we moved away.
I was up on a chair getting things off a high shelf, sorting as I went and tossing some things on the bed beside my suitcase to take with me and other things on the floor to be disposed of. I remember being amazed at the things I had kept thinking I might want them later. Now, I was glad to get rid of them. Coming to the end of that stack I was horrified to find that I still had a big set of drawers which were also stuffed with 'stuff'... mainly clothing.....hmmmm!! I became very upset because my suitcase was already full and now I was running late for my flight. I thought that Colin could bring the extra! (Hmmmmm again!) There my dream ended.
Most of us collect stuff along life's pathway that we think we need to hold on to. When we left Australia in 1994 to go to Hong Kong (for perhaps 3 or 4 years), we left a small storage shed of 'stuff' for which we paid a monthly rental over what turned out to be 13 and a half years! On sorting through it in 2008 I wondered why I had thought I needed to keep most of it. There were a few things but we would have done well to dispose of most.
The apostle Paul said, "Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching for those things which are ahead I press on....." (Philippians 3:13). The New Living Translation puts it like this...."Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead...". Paul had a lot of 'stuff' he had to leave behind; the great life he had enjoyed as an important and scholarly person, the shame of zealously persecuting Christians before he had his own encounter with Christ, the many times he'd been stoned, imprisoned, mistreated and maligned. He counted these things as rubbish, stuff to be left behind and not given any place of importance in his life. He was concentrating on his future, he was pressing on for the prize of a glorious eternity with Christ (read the rest of Philippians 3).
In Hebrews 12:1 we are encouraged to "...throw off the things that hinders us and the sin that so easily entangles us...". Those will be different things for each of us; disappointments, shame, our own failures, painful memories, grief, unforgiveness.....and so on. You can name your own I'm sure. When it speaks of the sin that so easily entangles us or holds us captive, I believe that can be holding onto thoughts and memories that will harm us as we go over and over them in our mind. Not only that, holding onto the past can affect the people around us and cause them pain too as it colours out outlook on life.
Jesus came to set us free from all that, so let's not hold onto these things, or pack them away so we have to go deal with them later. Let's face them and give them up to God, find healing in knowing that He will never disappoint us or shame us, but His unconditional love will comfort, encourage and give us the grace to deal with the past so that it doesn't hinder our future. We don't need to stay stuck in an unhealthy groove; we can move on to better things and a bright eternal future guaranteed to us through our personal faith in Jesus Christ. Today is a new day, enjoy it without the hindrances of the past. Let's travel light.
Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching for those things which are ahead I press on..... Philippians 3:13
PRAYER: Lord show me those things which are hindering my ability to live a life filled with hope for the future then help me to put them behind me and press on to better things. Amen
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