Inscribed in Us

 If you continue to carry bricks from your past, 

you will end up building the same house...

I love used books, especially finding those with personal inscriptions inside. I'm on the sentimental side, so I often wonder how one could part with a book titled, To My Daughter With Love, with a simple inscription penned inside, "Love, Mom." But then I remember, people don't live forever, and there are many circumstances that could separate people from their special possessions. My personal book collection contains books with special inscriptions, reminding me of who gifted me with the book. I don't know where they will end up after I'm long gone, but I hope one day the inscriptions that read, "Thank you Lord, for my friend, Jami" will make someone think about and appreciate their own friends. Isaiah 49:16 See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me. Even better than the inscriptions placed inside books, we are under the constant faithful care and concern of the Lord. 

Today's topic isn't even about books, but I couldn't resist the irony in this next inscription as I was doing some studying. I opened up my used copy of "Making Peace with Your Past" by H. Norman Wright, and inside the cover I found this inscription: "Martin James, I hope this book helps you find an inner piece, that I was never able too. (sic) My love, Amy." 

Did she mean to write the word "peace" or was she searching for a deeper meaning of an actual missing piece? Was she never able to find that piece with Martin, or could she never find it in herself? Was the answer in the book? It seems we all have some kind of missing peace these days. Some fill it with baggage, and some fill it up with God. Either way, Martin no longer needed this book to find it, wherever he is. 

Maybe I'm reading too much into a simple inscription, but since the book's whole point is about making peace with your past, I can only assume the giver or the recipient was like many of us–tripped up over some type of past emotional wound. Isaiah 43:18-19 Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The author, H. Norman Wright, gives a compassionate Christian perspective of how we can become hampered or even paralyzed by the baggage of our past. The events of our past can have a significant negative impact on our behavior and relationships with others, but healing those hurts and softening those scars will lead to a more fulfilling life in the present time. God assures us that He will make a 'way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert', both seemingly impossible things. Well, without God, they can appear that way.  I recognize how some things seem extremely difficult to overcome, including healing a difficult past. But with God, it is possible. And what is the alternative to healing? Staying emotionally sick and building the same old house with the same old bricks. Matthew 19:26 Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

 "Jesus Christ is the source of our healing, because he is also the source of the hope we have as God's child." That is the most important point the author makes in the book. John 8:12 "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." We have to believe that healing is within our grasp when we trust God with what we are carrying. While too much digging into the past is unhealthy, a little unearthing can be beneficial if it gets to the root of the problem in order to heal it for good. Sometimes shedding light on what we have kept hidden in the dark is the way to seeing it for what it truly is and not the monster it has become. As a wise quote says, "Let your past be your springboard, not your quicksand."

Living in the past, dredging it up, living in old scenarios as if they are current, carrying old baggage–all of those negative behaviors can only go down one road–an unfulfilling, depressing existence. 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. When we become new in Christ, we make a choice to let go of our old ways. It means we are no longer slaves to the rejection, deprivation, degradation, bad memories, unforgiveness, bitterness, guilt, and any sinister thing that was imprisoning us. We now align our habits, thinking, actions, and direction with the Word of God. Ephesians 4:22-24 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires, to be made new in the attitude of your minds, and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. There is a holy reason why the Lord wants us to let go of the past and move forward. We are to be ready to embrace this new life, not relive an old one. 

 We must continue to get to know the character of God so that we conform more and more into His character, as we were created to be. We will then be able to shrug off the things that are holding us back. Hebrews 12:1-2 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 

The enemy loves to keep us tied to a past filled with misery, and we must be on alert to this. He knows our human egos can be fragile. He knows we can get in our fickle feelings and dwell on our sad situations, and then BOOM, he swoops in and delivers a whole forkful of steaming lies, and in a moment of vulnerability, we can fall for his weak strategy. This is why we set our focus on God always. If we don't know what God is saying, we might believe whatever we hear, so we can just as easily fall victim to the lies of the enemy. We need to remain rooted in Christ and what we know to be true.

 John 15:5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. The enemy is a liar who wants us to fail, and knows that keeping us locked in a painful past with stagnant memories is one way to keep us from moving forward to the finish line. He likes to keep us self-focused and isolated–the opposite of what we are here for. Contrary to what many in the world would like us to think, we are not here to complain non-stop about the state of the world, our aches and pains, the economy, and all the wrongs everyone has ever done to us. This is a side effect of living in a fallen world, but also a bad habit of living in the past. When we are constantly dissatisfied and not trusting in the Lord, we are doomed to rely on the world for our provisions. When we aren't happy, we start comparing our yesterdays. Ecclesiastes 7:10 Do not say, "Why were the old days better than these?" For it is not wise to ask such questions. God is in control. He was in control of our past, He is in control of our present, and He is in control of our futures. We can rest in Him, not in the so-called "security" of our "old days." (the music was better–that's all I'm saying)

 Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. When we dwell in the past, we dwell also in the pain that it caused as if that pain happened today, because it was never resolved or forgiven. One of the reasons God gave his Son Jesus was for our healing, and that includes our emotional healing. Isaiah 53:5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. God commanded us to forgive, which also benefits our healing. Ephesians 4:31-32 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. When we carry around unforgiveness or bitterness, we carry around a piece of the past that just keeps wounding–ourselves and others.  

H. Norman Wright writes, "The more we incorporate the biblical perspective or ourselves into our consciousness, the easier it will become to overcome hurtful memories and crippling messages. For it is God who does it in us."  1Peter 1:18-19 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. God redeemed us with the blood of His own Son because of His great love for us even while we were still sinners. Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Though it is still unfathomable to grasp this amount of love, I can't imagine wasting another breath, another step, another thought, or another moment dredging up the old sludge when God gives me a fresh new vibrant life to embrace every day. Let's drop the old baggage and pick up the clean healing that God has freely given us. H. Norman Wright says it best in a few words, "For it is God who does it in us." 

Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." Lamentations 3:22-24

A healing prayer for letting go of the past: 

Lord, I surrender myself and my heart–every situation I'm walking through–into Your hands. I give you permission to come into my life and my heart and do a healing work in me. I give you permission to point out those things that I need to let go of in order to move forward. Father God, I want to heal. I want to walk in peace. I want joy. And I want to experience more of Your presence in my life. Help me to walk out of the old so that you can do a new thing in me. In Jesus' mighty name. Amen. 

-Carolyn Rice (of Carolynsbooks.com)