Pastor's Corner                                           

                                                                                       

                                                                        Moving On

 

Theologian and preacher/teacher William Barclay tells of a story in his book "The King and the Kingdom" that I would like to share with you.  “Sometimes it is very hard to keep [moving] on when we do not seem to be getting anywhere.  When Thomas Carlyle had finished the first volume of his book, "The French Revolution," he gave the finished manuscript to his friend John Stuart Mill and asked him to read it.  It took Mr. Mill several days to read it and as he read, he realized that it was truly a great literary achievement. Late one night as he finally finished the last page, he laid the manuscript aside by his chair on the floor in the den of his home. The next morning the maid came. Seeing those papers on the floor, she thought they were simply discarded for rubbish. She threw them into the fire, and they were burned.  On March 6, 1835 – he never forgot the date - Mill called on Carlyle in deep agony and told him that his word has been destroyed.  Carlyle replied, “It’s alright, I’m sure I can start over in the morning and do it again.”  Finally, after a great many apologies, John Mill left and started back home.  Carlyle watched his friend walking away and said to his wife, “Poor Mill. I feel so sorry for him. I did not want him to see how crushed I really am.” Then heaving a sigh, he said, “Well, the manuscript is gone, so I had better start writing again.” It was an especially long, hard process because the inspiration was gone.  It is always hard to recapture the verve and the vigor if a man must do a thing like that twice.  But he set out to do it again and finally completed the work.  Thomas Carlyle walked away from the disappointment.  He could do nothing about a manuscript that was burned up.

 

So it is with us. We have a choice about our past.  We can continue to dwell on it or decide to let the past live in the past. Paul said it best in Philippians 3:12-14 “…I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. 13 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (NASB)  Don’t let your past define you. Do not let what happened slow you down. Mistakes and regrets?  Sure, we all have them.  Let me encourage you to move forward in what Christ can still do in you and through you.

 

Blessings,

Pastor Paul