Let Bygones Be Bygones

If you are a Christian, you had a beginning of being a Christian, somewhere.

Point: No-one is born a Christian. To believe that wold be like saying you were born in the back seat of a car therefore you are an Impala.

David said in Ps.51:t that he was conceived in sin by his mother. Romans 3:23 says that all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God. To be a Christian, you must accept Christ as Lord and Saviour and place you faith in His shed blood for the atonement of your sins. John. 14: 6 states that He is the way, No man comes to the Father but by Him. Church membership, being a member of a charitable organization, good deeds, none of these will secure you Eternal Life.

Sometimes, we as Christians need to let bygones be bygones. Sometimes we can let bitterness, jealousy, worries of our past, worries of the future creep in to our Christian lives as well. Here are 3 steps to help let Bygones be Bygones.

1. Let the Past be Past through forgiveness Vs-17
"Old things are passed away. What is past is passed. This is all the sins, failures, misfortunes etc. before salvation. This also includes sin after salvation. 1 John 1:9 says " if we confess our sins, He (Jesus) is faithful to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness. Don't allow Satan to torment you about the Past that God has forgiven you of. Don't put a question mark where God has place a period. Sometimes letting bygones be bygones causes us to swallow a lot of pride. Here's something I have found to be true though. "swallowing pride is a lot easier than eating crow". Many Christians stunt their Spiritual growth by not being willing to forgive. Another saying I have is "put away old grudges because they aren't good to be around just like old grouches".
We must forgive because we have been forgiven. Has someone sinned more against you than you have sinned against God? I doubt it so, if God has forgive us, we must forgive others.

2. Let the Present become exciting for you. (Vs 18-20)

Make the best of what you have available today. You can't change yesterday, tomorrow isn't here so, make the best of today. Begin each day with faith, that God will be with you regardless of what the day may bring. Without faith it's impossible to please God and many, many times, Jesus asked His disciples "why did you doubt or He said O ye of little Faith". God wants us to trust Him and have faith in Him regardless of the circumstances around us. Remember the story of Peter walking on the water? As long as he had his eyes on Jesus, he was fine, when he took his eyes off Jesus and looked at the winds and waves, he began to sink. We are the same way as we walk in the sea of life!

3. Let Faith make the Future Fabulous: ( vs 18)
We begin or Christian walk by Faith when we trust Christ as our Saviour. Life has it's ups and downs. Christians are not exempt from the trials and tribulations of life. If we were, we would be building more churches that we are prisons.
Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured and look at it this way, I have done many, many funerals in my 34 years in the ministry and, I have never seem a Brink's truck or a u-haul behind a hearse yet!!!!!! The Scriptures say that we come into this world with nothing and we leave the same way. Think about it folks, to put it in plain old country boy terms, most of us leave this world, about the same way we came in, " very little hair, no teeth and, wrinkled" so why worry about it?
Faith is the opposite of fear. If we are a child of God, we need to let the bygones be bygones and let God lead us, guide us and direct us in life, so we can be a blessing to others and lead others to a Saving knowledge of Jesus, just like we have received Him.

May you have a blessed weekend and may this message be a blessing to you.