“Comparison is the thief of joy.”
I admit, as a 50-something, I sometimes find myself wallowing in the pit of nostalgia, comparing the “good old days” of my childhood to the world in its current state.
When you’re a child, your world is laid out in front of you like a giant buffet, and you have every chance in front of you.
“Nostalgia is a file that removes the rough edges from the good old days.” – Doug Larson
Yesterday I heard a sermon from a veteran preacher. If you took one look at him, not knowing him, you’d think, “Oh boy, he’s probably steeped in tradition, and will talk about the ‘good old days’ of the church.”
To anyone who knows him, though, you’d look forward to hearing the word from God that you need to hear, and that word was that the “good old days” are in the future. The best is yet to be. Don’t spend your life disgruntled about how different things are than they were in the past, but trust God for the future.
That’s it, right there. Trust God for the future. We have no control over what happens in the future, because we don’t KNOW the future. God does.
It’s hard for us to understand the supernatural element of God knowing everything and being everywhere. It’s something that keeps people from believing in God, in trusting in Him.
It binds us to a past that has no hold on us, if we will only let go of it.
No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. Phillipians 3:13-14 NLT
This is Paul talking, y’all. Paul, as Saul, had lived “the good life” as a religious leader, respected, admired, and steeped in anger and bitterness. When Jesus saved him, renaming him “Paul” on the road to Damascus, he turned away from that life and took on the life of a servant, a slave to Jesus Christ. He could have looked back at his easy life, but he didn’t. He knew that the best was yet to come.
If you’re struggling with looking back, think about the fact that we can’t think as God thinks, and we needn’t try to get ahead of Him or wish we were back where we were before. That’s not God talking, that’s Satan talking.
“The good old days” are precious to us because they connect us to loved ones that are no longer with us, but they’re not where we need to live on a daily basis. We need to live for a future with Jesus Christ.
After all, that’s what we’re doing here on earth, isn’t it? Practicing for the real thing in Heaven?
Have a blessed Monday!
P.S. There are only 70 shopping days until CHRISTMAS!!!!
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