Should Old Acquaintance Be Forgot?

By Gobel Brockman


2014. For some, it was a great year. For others it seemingly only brought heartbreak. And for others, it was a rather uneventful year - if years were ice cream flavors, 2014 may have been plain vanilla for you. But regardless which category you fall into regarding this past year, there's one thing we all have in common:

It's over.

There is not a thing any of us can do about anything that happened in 2014. None of us can go back and relive or redo any day or event. We can't undo anything that we've done or "un-say" anything that we've said. 2014 is history, and so is every event that transpired during it. What we can do is what the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 3:13-14:

     "Brothers. I do not consider that I have made it on my own. But one thing I do: forgetting those things that are behind and reaching forward to things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

With that thought in mind, I want to encourage you with two thoughts:

1) You can't hold on to the bad.
Raise your hand if in this past year you have done some things you shouldn't have done. (Every one of us should be raising our hands right now.) We've said something we shouldn't have said, had attitudes that didn't reflect the faith we claim to have, and did things that may have hurt others. As I mentioned earlier, we don't have the ability to undo any of them. What we can do is ask God to forgive us, make amends to others if necessary, and then move on. Do not allow the enemy of our souls to cause you to live in constant regret and condemnation. If God has forgiven you, it's over. Period. Accept grace, learn from the experience, and press forward.

2) You can't hold on to the good.
That may seem like a strange statement, but let me explain. If you've ever seen the movie Napoleon Dynamite you'll remember Uncle Rico. If you haven't, he was a guy probably in his 30's who was still living in his glory days of high school football - or what he thought were his glory days. Years later, he was still video-taping himself throwing a football. Sadly, there are some people who seem to be stuck in their past successes. What I mean by that is this: they think that their best days are behind them. The point I want to make is that when Paul said "I press forward toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" he said he was going both forward and upward - meaning, "I'm not done yet." I want to encourage you with this - you're not done yet. I'm thankful for what I've seen God do in my life thus far, but He's not done yet.

My prayer for 2015 is that God helps to me live my life one day at a time, honor Him with my words and actions, seek and accept His forgiveness when I fall short, and live with anticipation for what lies ahead. I pray the same for everyone that reads this. Let's jump in head first and go for the ride. It should be interesting.