Has anyone ever shared their past with you and while they were talking about it, you could hear the excitement in there voice?  Has there been a time when someone talked to you about their past and you could hear the regret in their voice?  When you take a closer look at them, you realize they are still struggling with their past. The way we respond will be to either give a confirmation it can’t get better, or to let them know regret does not have to win.

In the Bible, Paul is an example of someone who could have easily allowed regret to win in his life. Why? Prior to becoming a Christian, he had no problem persecuting them.  Until one  day on the road to Damascus, he was blinded by the Light (Acts 9:1-18). This was a life changing event for Paul.  While he was blind, the only place he could see was within. This allowed Paul to reflect on what Jesus said to him “why do you persecute me?” Paul was faced with this reality; he was hurting those who answered the call to be servants of Jesus Christ. As we dig deeper, the real question Paul may have been asking himself is why did he allow me to live after what I’ve done? To blow his mind Jesus sends Ananias one of his servants’ to pray for Paul and his sight was restored. This moved Paul to understand the love of God and he dedicated the rest of his life to serve him.

For the remainder of his life there was always someone around to remind him of what he had done and would not embrace his ministry. I know there may have been times he thought hard about his past and regretted what he had done.  Paul no doubt thought about how many more lives he could have touched with his ministry, if his past had been different. However, he would not allow himself to get stuck in yesterday, but continued to preach, teach and write epistles to empower all that would listen.

Are you stuck in yesterday? You don’t have to be.  God loves you and wants to heal your hurts of yesterday. We can’t turn back the hands of time, nor does God want us too. Jesus came to meet us where we are in order to take us to where God wants us to be. Let me say it like this, Jesus came so that we don’t have to be stuck in yesterday. Step into your today and leave yesterday behind!