October 3, 2011
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Haunting from the Past
September 26, 2011
The past can be extremely daunting for some of us. Depending on what happened in the past and our perceptions of the past, we either embrace our past or run away from it, ever striving to reach a future fantasy that we have conjured up and created in our minds.
Through we may believe that this future fantasy is hope and a dream that when we arrived, could make up for the past that we had lived, this is far from the truth. The more we run away from the past, the more the past will burden us and keep us from our future. The past, if not properly interpreted with truth and cleaned up inside, could become a broken down section of a home, a section long forgotten and uninhabited. Perhaps, the un-visited past is more like a haunted house, run-downed and filled with cobwebs and fallen bricks, a place where we would not like to be. Regardless of whether we run from the past or embrace it, we know that the past is always there and that we cannot change it.
Some of us believe that we should learn from the past before we can move on in a healthy and productive way. The world teaches that psychotherapy and/or a therapists' services can help us deal with the cobwebs that form and the bricks that had fallen. This reinterpreting of the past does not change the reality that there are cobwebs and fallen bricks. Reinterpretation, which some call a healthy perspective, is just a band-aid as it fails to address the bigger problem, the core and clear out the cobwebs and fallen bricks. The truth is only thing that works, clearing out the cobwebs and fallen bricks. If the reinterpretation just covers the picture and makes it seem nice, the truth will come out again and be more devastating than it was before.
When we deal with the past, we must deal with it truthfully instead of covering it up, dressing it up to be nice, and lying about it. If we have a past that bothers us, denial is not going to help us in the long run - it only creates a fantasy that will one day fall and set us up for more denials and lies to cover up the very things we deny. Thus, it is clear that to deal with the past, one must deal with it. But how does one deal with it if it is too painful, too hard, too difficult, and too numbing? Most of us are happy in the present time and would not rather deal with it, but there are times that we know that the past has affected us, how we interpret a situation, how we relate to others, and other areas of our lives. The lies or cover up has the power to rule over us and to control us. Thus, we learn that we must tell the truth. A recent movie in the theaters, the Debt, illustrates this concept very well. In the end, the truth triumphed and came out - there was no hiding it or burying it.
What if the truth is too painful to deal with? What if the past is hard for us and we would rather not think about it? Some of deal with it one piece at a time. However, I deal with the disappointments head one with Truth Himself, who is Christ. I accept the past as it is in Truth and offer to Him on the cross. He in turn sacrifices that past for me -- there is no more guilt, no more need to hide, and no more need to run. This is what Jesus does for us through His bodily death and bodily resurrection on the cross. Through our faith in Him, we have the opportunity to start all over again with a slate wiped completely clean. That's grace indeed!
Do you want your past wiped clean this Halloween season? Do you want the reassurance of knowing that the past will no longer haunt you, control you, and/or take you? In Christ, this is all possible, possible because He gives us many chances through the cross. And, our failures, though many due to a humanness, are an offering to Him, a living sacrifice of coming to know Him and know His perfection that led to the cross. This is how an imperfect creature comes to know a perfect Creator. This one of the ways how we, through the Holy Spirit, come to know Christ and His Father.
How do you deal with your past?
Copyright 2011 by Christenstein
Comments (4)
The way I deal with the past is that I appreciate it & try move on with my life. Granted there may be some bad times, but those bad periods have made me a better & stronger person. I also cherish those good memories. Everything from the past has made me who I am today, so I shouldn't regret it.
@lostinthought86 - Thanks for your comments. :)
I do not have big issues about my past...I learned a discipline a long time ago which is called recapitulation which is specifically focused on remembering your past. The past formed us and brought us to the present and it is neither good nor bad but it is something we need to integrate into the present to be whole. Thank you for sharing how Jesus Christ helps you to integrate your past. When you are reborn in Christ the past no longer hold its dominion over your future.
@Zeal4living - Thanks for comments. Definitely agree with you that we need to integrate our past into the present to be whole. All too often, some I know while believing that Jesus died for their sins and all is forgiven believe that the past is the past. I had come across this philosophy many times and had come into contact with people of faith who have asserted forgetting is the best way to move on. While they do have a point for certain situations, most of the time, they are asserting the belief that we should forgive and forget. For me at least, their idea of forgiveness is a bit flawed. For even in Bible, God tells us to remember what He did for us, not to forget about it and pretend that sins never happened because we are forgiven. And, remembering is not because we had not moved on or are controlled by it, remembering it is a celebration of moving on and being freed from it (quite a different viewpoint from most, I know). Appreciate your comments.
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