Do you need to “unsubscribe” from some of your past?
I had two recent experiences that starkly reminded me to be intentional about my past. The first was at the funeral of Pastor John Wooten. He was taken too soon (age 58) by a bout with cancer. He first learned about it less than 10 months earlier.
John was a very good and Godly man, and his was one of the most enjoyable funerals I’ve been to. By enjoyable, I mean those who participated shared the right amount of grief, pleasant memories and helpful insights from the life John lived and painted a beautiful word picture of the admirable person he was.
One of the speakers shared a point from John’s last sermon: “Some of you need to unsubscribe from your past.” What a great way to put it. Like an online subscription that just won’t go away…some of us live and re-live (even obsess about) aspects of our past that are way past being beneficial.
It may be crippling guilt and shame over what you did, or pain someone else caused that has become bitterness within you. Perhaps you re-live things that stoke your insecurity and you never feel good enough, or desirable, and some failures never fade. Regardless…prayerfully choose to “unsubscribe” from the harmful memories of your past.
The second reminder was somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean as I flew to Johannesburg, South Africa. I was on my way to the tiny nation of Eswatini to continue the relief work and leadership development I’ve been part of since December 2007. I was prepping a sermon for Potter’s Wheel Church that I would be sharing the weekend I arrived.
On the airplane the same kind of idea hit me as I reviewed notes from a book I wrote several years ago “Your Best is Yet to Come…leveraging your past for a better future.” (Available on amazon.com) I wrote the book for a sermon series in honor of the 50th birthday of the church I had the privilege to serve for 41 years.
The book highlighted Bible Heroes who faced difficult things about their past and overcame them. Joseph overcame horrible family abuse and injustice to thrive as a world leader and accomplish God’s plan for that ancient time. Esther saved her nation from genocide, even though her life to that point was lived as “just a slave girl.” Peter, a disciple of Jesus came to terms with epic failures from his past to become a leader in the New Testament church as it changed modern history.
Each of them could have lived a fraction of the life God intended for them by staying stuck in or on their past. Read their stories; in one way or another, they came to terms with their past and grew beyond it. You can too.
Try these helpful responses to what is in your past:
- Learn from both the good and the bad experiences.
- Allow yourself to feel appropriate sorrow for the losses in your life.
- Express healthy remorse and repentance toward your sins.
- Look back with gratitude for the blessings and good times.
- And FINALLY…as John Wooten would say, “Unsubscribe!”
Learn to enjoy and be grateful, learn to let go and forgive (them and you.) Move on, and refuse to live in the shadow of your past or let failure define you.
P.S. Perhaps your past seems too painful to “let go” or unsubscribe from. If so, I’m reminded of a mentor who told me years ago, “We don’t live with our past, we live with what we tell ourselves about our past.” Today, if “unsubscribing” seems impossible, ask God to at least give you a more redemptive, hope-inspiring interpretation of what was, to free you from pain, bitterness and regret.
Dr. Stan J. Tharp, MBA 