Can you remember the worst thing you have ever done? What category does it fall into – embarrassing, dodgy, illegal, evil? Is it worse than anything anyone you know has ever done? Does it scream at you, or merely give you a nudge? Was it a long time ago, or fairly recent? Maybe it was a one-off, or perhaps a serial\u00c2\u00a0occurrence? Do you just remember it occasionally, or is it in your mind all the time?<\/p>\n
Answers on a postcard to….. NO! I am joking, keep it to yourself!<\/p>\n
The thing is that, no matter how good we might be, no matter how good we have been, we all \u00a0have done something that is the worst thing we have ever done. It’s what we do with it that counts. Thinking about it is definitely not a good thing, so I apologise if the questions above set your mind off on a walk down Memory Lane!<\/p>\n
Why do we think about things like that? There are probably only two reasons.<\/p>\n
The first one is that we might still actually enjoy what we did. We haven’t broken the chain. Maybe we don’t still do whatever it was we did, but we look back at it and relive the feelings that we had at the time, the enjoyment of whatever it was. If that is the case, we need to deal with it pretty quickly. Just thinking about it in that way is just as bad as doing it all over again.<\/p>\n
The second reason might be that we still feel guilty about it. Yes, perhaps we have never done it again, or ever wanted to. Yes, perhaps we have sought forgiveness and been forgiven, but it still haunts us, still\u00c2\u00a0embarrasses\u00c2\u00a0us, still makes us cringe.<\/p>\n
Either way, it’s not good. The devil is in it. Either he is reminding you of how “good” the bad thing actually was, or he is reminding you of how bad you were by saying that you are not forgiven. Either way, he just wants to ruin your walk with God. He wants you to look back \u00c2\u00a0– and before you know it you are a pillar of salt going nowhere!<\/p>\n
I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. (Philippians 3:12-14, NLT)<\/p>\n
Don’t dwell in the past – or on it. If you need to be forgiven, seek forgiveness. If you have been forgiven, accept it. We can never change the past, but God can, and he does it through forgiveness. You see, once you are totally forgiven, you have a clean sheet. Your past is made totally perfect. Then you can look forward <\/strong>to what lies ahead.<\/p>\n That’s why you don’t have eyes in the back of your head.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Can you remember the worst thing you have ever done? What category does it fall into – embarrassing, dodgy, illegal, evil? Is it worse than anything anyone you know has ever done? Does it scream at you, or merely give you a nudge? Was it a long time ago, or fairly recent? Maybe it was a one-off, or perhaps a serial occurrence? Does it lie in wait for you, or is it in your mind all the time?
\nAnswers on a postcard to…..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[3,17,413,28,36,38,48,53,69,71],"class_list":["post-2099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian","tag-bibleblogs","tag-christ","tag-christian","tag-decision","tag-forgiveness","tag-god","tag-jesus","tag-life","tag-sin","tag-sinner","category-5","description-off"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfWaLo-xR","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7117,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2022\/10\/6-yesterdays-tomorrow\/","url_meta":{"origin":2099,"position":0},"title":"6 – Yesterday’s Tomorrow","author":"Robert Pender","date":"18\/10\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=\"7118\" img_size=\"full\" alignment=\"center\" style=\"vc_box_shadow_3d\" css_animation=\"zoomInLeft\"][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]I spent a lot of time thinking about the title of today's episode - Tears for Fears, Yesterday, Perfect Day, Tomorrow Never Comes, All Our Yesterdays - and a couple of dozen others that I can't remember for the life of me. Maybe I can't\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7072,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2022\/09\/just-thinking-what\/","url_meta":{"origin":2099,"position":1},"title":"3 – Just thinking what?","author":"Robert Pender","date":"30\/09\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=\"7073\" img_size=\"full\" alignment=\"center\" style=\"vc_box_shadow_3d\"][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Most of the time, all is calm, then I'm in a bit of a storm. I was never a great fan of big dippers and so I always kept away from them. The trouble with this big dipper is that it comes to get me! I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7182,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2022\/12\/11-held-and-healed\/","url_meta":{"origin":2099,"position":2},"title":"11 – Held and Healed","author":"Robert Pender","date":"03\/12\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=\"7183\" img_size=\"full\" alignment=\"center\"][\/vc_column][vc_column][vc_column_text] Held Well, that has been a bit of a week! Last weekend, I probably did a bit much. It's hard to tell, to be honest. In August I was as fit as a fiddle, now there are a few strings broken. I know I can't do\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1865,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2010\/11\/can-i-help-mr-cameron\/","url_meta":{"origin":2099,"position":3},"title":"Can I help, Mr Cameron?","author":"Robert Pender","date":"28\/11\/2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I was interested to read that Prime Minister, Mr Cameron, is going to spend \u00c2\u00a32million on measuring the happiness of the British people. Happiness, according to the dictionary is a state of well being and contentment. I do not see a lot of contentment in the society in which we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christianity"","block_context":{"text":"Christianity","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/christian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7329,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2023\/03\/19-words-mean-everything\/","url_meta":{"origin":2099,"position":4},"title":"19 – Words Mean Everything","author":"Robert Pender","date":"12\/03\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"If you have been following my blog you will know that in November last year I was diagnosed as having terminal cancer. In episode 8 of this series, I described how the oncologist told me that if I did not get chemotherapy I would have two or three months to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pender.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/words.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pender.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/words.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pender.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/words.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pender.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/words.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pender.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/words.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4531,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2019\/05\/a-shadow-of-my-future-self\/","url_meta":{"origin":2099,"position":5},"title":"A shadow of my future self","author":"Robert Pender","date":"01\/05\/2019","format":false,"excerpt":"[vc_row][vc_column width=\"1\/2\"][vc_single_image image=\"4532\" img_size=\"full\"][\/vc_column][vc_column width=\"1\/2\"][vc_column_text css=\"\"]Many years ago I had a very sore back. It would come and go every few months. First one side would hurt and, just as it was getting better, then the other side would start to hurt. I have a very vivid memory of John\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christianity"","block_context":{"text":"Christianity","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/christian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2099\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}