Leave the Past Behind

God calls His people to stop living in former hurts, failures, and circumstances and to move forward in the life He has given them.

Topics

Believers are called to leave what is behind and press forward in the life God has set before them.

• Paul describes a deliberate decision to stop looking backward and to reach toward what is ahead.
• Past experiences can continue to occupy the heart when a person repeatedly returns to them in thought.
• Unforgiveness can keep past offenses active in a person's present life.
• Leaving the past behind does not deny that painful things happened; it means refusing to remain governed by them.
• The sermon uses the picture of an old garment to describe former conditions that should no longer be carried into a new season of life.
• A person should not allow former failures, disappointments, rejection, or wounds to become a permanent definition of who they are.
• Moving forward requires turning attention toward what God is doing rather than continually trying to relive or prove something about the past.

• Identify past experiences that continue to control your thoughts, attitudes, or decisions.
• Bring painful memories and unresolved offenses before God rather than continually carrying them.
• Forgive those who have wronged you and refuse to keep rehearsing their offenses.
• Do not allow former failures or disappointments to become your permanent identity.
• Stop measuring your present life by what happened in the past.
• Give your attention to the life God has placed before you.
• Press forward in faith and obedience instead of continually looking backward.