Good morning on yet another Friday! We are not to live in the past, but in the present. However, a short trip back to the day can be instructive. Each of us probably has some time period, hopefully just a little slice, in his or her life that an observer thinking back to that day might insert a rather less than complimentary term in the description. As in, "Boy, I remember back when you were a..." Insert the term of your choice, and then remember that Jesus has made you different now. We each have this in our past, that we were not always the ideal of Christ-like behavior. Okay, we might as well say it as Paul did, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Rom 3:23)
Forced to agree with that observation of our past behavior, we might try to soften the blow with something like, "Well, I wasn't that way all the time!" Probably true, but not likely to save us against the judgment bar of the law of Moses or even public opinion. The good thing is that in Christ we learn and grow as His Spirit cleanses us from within. We can be glad to grow out of the selfishness of the teen years. We survived the carelessness and scheming of the twenties. Then, we somehow made it to the thirties, and the forties, and the fifties, and... Whoa there! Maybe we don't need to go back too far!
If you or I could see the changes from God's view, we might realize that even last week this life was just a bit more sinful than this week. We didn't care quite so much as we do now. We didn't love quite so well as in this moment. Each day, perhaps each moment, you and me grow closer to Christ and closer to each other. The love and joy of Jesus Christ to you on this Friday!
Bucky
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