By Ighomuaye Lucky. O
The assistant pastor of God’s Greater Grace General Assembly (GGGGA) Int’l Incorporated, Benin, Osazee Aibangbee, has admonished christian faithful never to allow their past negative experiences to becloud their senses of judgement but should be a springboard to their greatness.
He gave the advice while speaking on the topic: “Forget your past” during the Sunday church service in Benin.
Pastor Aibangbee said the past, especially the negative ones, have the ability of retarding progress because it is a constant reminder of either ones failures, deficiencies or a hurt.
Aibangbee taking his bible reading from the book of Isaiah, said God Himself knew the dangers inherent in holding onto a grief for so long a time and that, that is why He instructed believers in Christ to let go as letting go would engender healing and enable new things to come in.
“Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert”, Isaiah 43:18.
He noted that Saul who was notorious for persecuting Christians, supervised the killing of Stephen yet he let go of his past to crave for a better future for himself which is the kingdom of God.
He emphasized that Paul didn’t allow the burdens of his past to weigh him down rather he said he pressed towards the mark of the high calling.
“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
“Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
“I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus”, Philippians 3:12-14 .
He said Paul himself saw the past as a burden that must be dropped at the feet of Jesus Christ and he has called on christian faithful to lay aside those things that would serve as embargoes to their peace and survival especially as they embark on this heavenly race.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us”, Hebrew 12:1
He said they may have fallen several times but that should not determine their end as failure is just an opportunity to revaluate and relaunch, pointing out that, there is no great man without a bitter past but they did not succumbed to it rather they saw it as a reentry point and today, they are better for it.
The man of God further urged them to erase their bitter past from their memories and fill it with great hope, joy and peace just as he prayed for all the members of the church that God who restored Job in many folds after his afflictions should restore as many that have suffered one loss or the other in many folds too.