“Let it go! Let it go!” (sung in my Elsa voice…which I didn’t know I had…)

“Let the past be the past.”

“Goodbye 2015!!!!”

These are some of the statements we hear as we turn the corner and move into the new year.

One thing I appreciate about a new year is many of us reflect more carefully about our progress and goals as we approach the new calendar year.

I believe God gives the world a particular grace around this time of year to think about lifestyle change.   Thus I am going to ride the wave of His grace with this post and write about moving forward into 2016.

Okay…this might come out of left field, but I’m going to say it anyway…

I have a brain.  

My brain has a memory. Scientist believe that our memory is located not in one particular part of the brain, but is instead a brain-wide process. So, therefore, my entire brain contributes towards my having a memory. My brain is a very real part of me. It’s part of my physical nature.   As long as I live, I cannot escape my brain, nor my memory.

By God’s grace I’ve made a lot of good decisions in my life, none better than receiving Jesus as my Lord and Savior. But, I’ve also made some really foolish decisions as well.   Sin, for instance, is always a foolish decision.   The wages of sin is death.   One way the Bible defines sin is as “missing the mark”.   God gives us a target to hit, but when we miss His target, we sin.  Romans 3:23 lets us know that “All have sinned and fall short of His glory.”

I believe God has many targets for us to hit.  His word compels us to hit many targets.  I believe we miss a lot of them. I believe God is far more merciful than we can comprehend.  

We miss the mark. That’s our sin/human nature at work.  We all have a flesh we must overcome.  Fortunately, God is merciful and gracious and can help us overcome even our own limitations by the power of His Spirit.   We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.  

In Acts 9, in one transformative moment, Jesus revealed Himself to Saul, and Saul realized that he’d been missing the mark with his life.   Saul’s reaction to the reality of the resurrected Christ reveals much to us about what it’s like ffor many of us when we come into an authentic fear of the Lord:

“So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” – Acts 9:6

Saul was trembling. “Tremo”, the Greek word used here, indicates not just shaking, but fear as well. Saul was shaking and quivering with fear.

Why was Saul trembling?  I believe his words “Lord, what do You want me to do?” indicate a lot.   The very Jesus Saul had been dismissing as not real was real and was God. Not only was Jesus real, but Saul had been working against Jesus’ mission by killing followers of Christ who were partnering with God in the spread of the gospel.  

Think of Saul’s agony. His first thought was probably, “Oh my God, Jesus is real.” His second thought was probably, “Oh my God, what have I done?!!”

Right then and there, Saul came into KNOWING that Jesus was real.   The reverential fear of the Lord flooded His soul.  God opened His eyes and compelled him to repent.
When our eyes are opened by God to the light of Christ, we can be tempted by Satan to agonize over what we’ve done in the past.

“How could I have been so stupid?”

“What was I thinking?”

“My life is a mess!”

Think of the mess Saul’s life was at that moment. What would he now do with the life he’d built?   How would he continue to be a Pharisee?  What would his Pharisee friends think of him?

The revelation of Christ changed everything for Saul. He could not deny the reality of Christ nor what Christ wanted him to do.

Imagine if Saul stayed stuck in the past agonizing for the rest of his life over what he’d done. What if he knew Jesus was real, but felt shame for the rest of his life over what he’d done?  What if he got paralyzed by his shame and got depressed for the rest of his life?

Instead, Saul became Paul.   His nature and name changed.  He completely oriented himself towards Christ and towards the new beginnings Christ afforded him. He took on the mission of Christ and let God use him to spread the gospel to the nations.

Saul trembled because of Christ. Paul was fearless because of Christ.  He wrote to Timothy “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love, and of a sound mind.”  – 2 Timothy 1:7

Re: shame, Paul wrote, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” – Romans 8:1

Re: whether or not to reflect back on his past, Paul wrote, “Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 3:13-14

Not only was Paul completely oriented towards the present and future, but he “[Did] not consider to have made it on [his] own.”   In other words, he got help from God along the way to not agonize over his past.     

There is a grace that God has for us as we move into 2016. It’s a grace to let the past be the past. It’s a grace to not look back.   It’s a grace to forgive.  It’s a grace to move forward.   God gives us the grace to not look back and to look forward.

There’s so much power in God’s word.  God can give us a grace to “strain forward to what lies ahead” and to have clear focus on the “goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

If we apply His word, it’s because He’s given us the grace to apply His word.   God is giving us grace to apply His word.   He gives us the grace to ask Him for the grace to apply His word.   So, I encourage us to ask Him and keep asking Him for the grace to apply His Word.   If you haven’t invited Him into Your life, do it.  If you have invited Him in, invite more of Him in. If any man be in Christ he’s a new creation. The old is gone and the new has come.   Forget the past.   God wants to do a new thing.  He wants to focus us towards His power.   He has great plans for us today and tomorrow.   Tap into His plans. Tap into His power.   HE BREATHES LIFE.

May He give us grace to…

…Live the Life in 2016.