Be Divine; Don't Rewind

The emotion of nostalgia is the feeling of longing for elements from one's own past. For many of us, Blockbuster had left a ecto-cooler flavored memory in our minds. Every Friday night, we would rent a tape from Blockbuster, along with some candy and some popcorn. On every cassette, there is a sticker that reads "Be kind; please rewind." Now, let's put that into a spiritual sense. Imagine your mind as a live videocassette. There are memories you want to forget, but there is no way to undo them. Even after being baptized,fully repenting, and even in our walk with God, we still make mistakes in life. Mistakes that we wish weren't recorded by our mind, and some may be hard to forget. It is inevitable that we make these kinds of mistakes, for no one is perfect. Everyone you see in the church house every Sunday and Wednesday has thier best self on display. At home, you never know what they may be going through. Weather it be illness, addiction, or spiritual issues, no one in the church has it all together. That being said, even the people of the church have memories that the enemy will use against them to stray them away from God. The devil will use your past life of sin to entice you into going back and making the same mistakes, creating a false sense of nostalgia, thus putting you back into a life of sin. This is why we have to keep looking forward in life. God has paved a way for us to walk with him, and his plan for us is to never look back on what he has saved us from. Philippians 3:13 says "No, dear brothers and sisters, I I have not achieved it, but I focus on one thing; Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead." Does this mean we can't look back on the memories we have that bring us genuine joy? No, of course not! However, looking back onto your past life of sin will only stray you away from the path that he has paved for you. It is the work of the Devil to lure you back into what God has saved you from. If you let the devil win and keep rewinding that tape in your head, you will lose sight of what God has planned for your future. Now, let's say you do end up backsliding. It's going to be difficult to go back to where you left off, but God will pause that tape where you left off. God will not let you lose track of where you left off. He is waiting at that pause for you, and when you go back, he has not changed. Even though you let the enemy win, God will stay the same as he was when you first back-slid into that seemingly bottomless pit. To say this pit is bottomless is the same as saying that there is no hope to bounce back up. God will pull you out no matter how deep you've dug yourself into that pit. The only reason that pit seems bottomless is because you keep digging down to a place where it seems impossible to get out, discouraging you from bouncing back up, but no matter how deep down you dug, God will pull you out, and still love you just as he did while you were walking with Him, and even while you were down in that pit, He still loved you. My message to you, my brothers and sisters, is to never look back on your past life of sin, for that is the Devil trying to get you to back-slide from holiness. What you should do is put on the armor of God, and continue looking into the future that God has planned for you.