Refocusing on the future

There is nothing more that will drag you down more than a focus on the past.

Past hurts.

Past wounds.

Past betrayals.

There always comes a point and time in our lives when we need to move on.  Anything is destructive to us and those around us.

Some people never do move on.  They are trapped in the bondage of what has happened to them whether it be something someone did or said.

They plunge into self medications or shutting out the world; never to be hurt again.

Almost always the hurt has come from someone close to them.

This Sunday, I am going to give the steps in releasing someone who has hurt you.

But for today (and a preview of my teaching), I want to focus on this.

The only way to completely forgive someone is to refocus on the future and move on.

I stop focusing on the person who has hurt me.

Instead I refocus on God's purpose for my life which is greater than any problem or any pain that I am experiencing. 

If I focus on the person who has hurt me - they control me.

And to take it one step further, if I don't release the person who has betrayed or offended me, I will begin to resemble them.  It is a law of life that we become like whatever we focus on whether good or bad.

"I'll never be like my mom," some say.  Or, "I would never do that to my kids."  Oh yeah?

If you continue to focus on the person who has hurt you in the past, if you don't release it and move on,  you will begin to resemble them and the hate in your heart will eat you up.

Job 11:13-17 tells us this:  "Put your heart right (release and forgive the person who has hurt you), Job.  Reach out to God (Ask the Holy Spirit for His help).  Put away evil and wrong from your home.  Then face the world again, firm and courage's.  Then all your troubles will fade from your memory, like floods that are past and remembered no more.  Your life will be brighter than sunshine at noon, and life's darkest hours will sine like the dawn."

Then the memories will fade.

Great stuff for a Thursday.