Your Future Self will Thank you!
If you are not a student of history, please become one! It is only in learning from what Humanity has learned or not learned in the past, can we ever be freed from the curse of repeating the same evils. And let the reader beware, there are History-Changers, people who subvert reality to manipulate people in the NOW for their own diabolical reasons.
Our future is contingent on our past, what we have experienced, how it has shaped us, and what paradigms or patterns we have developed in the NOW to live our daily lives. Our future unveils before us with each step we take in a given day, and each step we choose to take determines our future.
We have been designed by our Creator to think critically, to ask questions, to discover, to learn from contrasts, to fall and get back up again, learning from that particular experience. Unfortunately, many folks do not think critically, but instead, form patterns of thinking and behavior that are biased toward a safe life, enough to eat, some clothes, some parties, and start all over again. Patterns form and their life sails by never having discovered that they are indeed, Image Bearers! Such a high calling and privilege! A life much higher and nobler than ‘just getting by’.
Some folks have been affected by trauma. Patterns of anxiety, depression, anger, bitterness, even violence emerge, not to mention the medication of choice that usually ends up in some life altering addiction.
So, your future lies in your experience and what you're going to do with it. Will your past define you in the NOW and dictate to you, like a tyrant, what your future will be? Or will shake off the tyrant and direct your steps into a future of hope and discovery?
The Apostle Paul wrote of his personal experience. A man haunted by the screams of innocent believers he had executed because of his zeal to snuff out believers in Messiah Jesus. After having experienced the Risen Christ, Paul became His most ardent follower. But I’m sure the trauma of having killed innocent people haunted him and impaired his steps forward, his past actions ever tugging on his ability to step forward into his future.
He wrote: I’ve been crucified with Christ..it is not I who live…but Christ who lives in me…the life I now live I live in the assurance of the Son Of God who gave himself up for me.
Paul no longer lived in the Lie of the ‘I’ life. The single solitary life. Alone. Self-centered. That life was crucified with His Savior. The life he now experienced was the Shared Life! He lived in the fellowship of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Angels, and Saints! And Oh what assurance that brought his heart and soul! He stepped into his future with confidence! And his writings have blessed millions down the corridors of time. You are an Image Bearer! Your worth is bestowed on you by your Heavenly Father! Begin to discover who you really are, then your steps will be confident, freed from the past, celebrating the Now!