Spring 2021 | Page 30
Bringing Closure to a Past Problem by: Bishop Herbert H. Thomas, Jr., Ph.D.
The past is something many people have a difficult time of letting go, especially when there are situations and circumstances that should be forgotten. I’m sure we all have someone in our lives who have become miserable, selfish, greedy, or just out right unhappy because of something from the past. We may also be victims of our past and give excuses, rationale or even blame others for our behaviors. As believers in Jesus Christ, we have a responsibility to love others who have done us wrong. We are also required to forgive others and let go of the past because it can have a hold on our joy as believers. Listed below are Bible verses that speaks to letting go of the past. •
2 Corinthians 5:17, God says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” This scripture says old things are gone, they are just that. God is doing a new thing but he can’t do it, if we are staying in the past. He says that old things are just that. Old. And gone.
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Isaiah 43:18-19, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs
up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.” It is a waste of time to dwell on the past, it keeps us from allowing God to do a new thing in our lives. We must trust God and believe that he is doing a new thing. It takes practice when you have been hurt but know that there is nothing too difficult for God. •
Exodus 23:20, “S, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.” When we move forward and let go of the past, God sends us help and empowers us with what we need (and that is the power of the Holy Spirit and his angels).
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Job 17:9, “The righteous keep moving forward, and those with clean hands become stronger and stronger.” When we let go of the past, we are able to move forward and grow stronger in the Lord. When we let go of the past, it is a demonstration of our trusting God and leaning to his understanding and not our own.
