| Good morning everyone, Our theme for this month: “How to inhabit time” Our Bible verse for today: “He comforts us in our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” 2 Corinthians 1:4 (CSB) Our thought for today: “Well, how did I get here?” In 1980 the rock group Talking Heads had a hit song with the title “Once in a Lifetime”. The underlying theme of the song is that we should think carefully about the long-term impacts of our choices, because our life is the sum total of the choices we have made. The song is reflective in nature, as the person wonders how he ended up in life where he now finds himself. It’s not a Christian song, and yet there’s a message in it that’s helpful. Here’s the first verse: And you may find yourself living in a shotgun shack And you may find yourself in another part of the world And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile And you may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife And you may ask yourself, “Well, how did I get here?” It’s a good question, really. How did you get where you are in life? The answer is that everything you have experienced in life up to this point has brought you to where you are today. All of it. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Every choice you have made, every experience you have had, it has all combined to make you who you are and it brought you to where you are in life now. The truth is that we carry our past with us. It never really goes away. The question is what we do with it. Will your past haunt you or help you? You get to decide. The first step is to acknowledge the reality of it. The second step is to decide what you’re going to do with it. This is what the Apostle Paul was referring to in 2 Corinthians 1:4 (above). In that case he was writing about pain and suffering from the past which God then uses to be a source of growth and strength for you, and then as a vehicle for blessing others. In yesterday’s devotional I encouraged all of us to remember the past and learn from it, but to then live life going forward. Today’s message makes essentially the same point. The past happened. You can’t change that. And, you carry the past with you. You can’t change that either. You cannot magically make it go away as if it never happened, it’s all a part of you. So now, what are you going to do with it? Go ahead and ask yourself “How did I get here?” That’s important to know. But then ask yourself, “Where am I going?” because that’s even more important. God bless, Pastor Jim |
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