The Good Ol’ Days
March 16th, 2010 by Victor
Some words from The Preacher:
Do not say, “Why is it that the former days were better than these?” For it is not from wisdom that you ask about this. [Ecclesiastes 7:10]
Do you find yourself wishing things were as they once were? I know I do from time to time. You look back at a time in your life when things were “better” than they are now – when you were more passionate about God, when you preached the gospel more often, when you were skinnier, had more hair, had kids at home, were in college, were dating your spouse, and more. We look back because we have a fond memory of the way things used to be.
Ecclesiastes tells us that it isn’t wise for us to do that. Why not? I think that part of the problem with longing for yesterday is that it is gone! We wish it was as it used to be but in the meantime today is being played out right in front of us while we are back in yesterday.
I often hear people talk about “I wish it was like the Book of Acts today” or “when I first became a Christian, we were on fire” – I think we should hear the words of Solomon on even these longings for days gone by. Instead of wishing it was back then, what can we do to make new memories today? What patterns in our days of old have we changed? What do we need to do now that we are older to keep the passion for the Lord & the gospel?
Lets think about that today.
What do you think? Why does Solomon tell us it isn’t wise to long for the days gone by?
Better is the end of a thing than the beginning. (see Ecc 7:8)
Sometimes to us a thing half way through doesn’t look so good, but God knows the beginning and the end.
And why should we ask God about the work that he does, unless we ask him why it is that he makes us better in the end? I think it’s because he’s patient.
And there is no going back is there? Some of those that have looked back, turned back to days that were not so good. Is it because after the pain is gone, we forget the pain and remember only the other things? It’s good to remember all the good that God has done and to remember that he hasn’t changed.
To everything there is a season (Ecc 3:1) and it’s not for us to know the seasons. (Acts 1:7) Therefore I suppose it’s not wise
to ask.
There were two children I read about in The Pilgrim’s Progress. (The House of the Interpreter)
One wanted everything right now, and the other was content to have the best for last. Passion and Patience both had their things.
Passion received his first but squandered it away. Passion represented the people of this world, and Patience the people of the world to come. First gave place to last and last gives place to nothing for there is nothing more to follow. Passion had a time to spend his, but Patience had his permanantly. The things that come are of more value.
More than at any time before, we should be looking forward, not back. We are in the final stages of “the great race”. Our advice from 1Cor 9:24 is ” Do you not know that those who run in a race all run,but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.” Do we want to be like Lot’s wife, who turned around to see what was happening behind her? We don’t know how long it will be before Jesus’s return, but we have a valuable work to do before then, in spreading the Gospel, and praising our Heavenly Father Yahweh. Let’s be so busy with that, that we have no time to think of the past!
Fiona
Yesterday is history. Tommorow is yet to come. Today is a gift from God that’s why it’s called “The Present”!
I’m looking up the word “present”. (presently)
My dictionary says, ” being at the specified or understood place; at hand.
When men began to say “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.”, the King was present, that is, at the specified or understood place. Present can also mean readily available. It can mean now taking place.
There’s also a meaning of present that means “this very document”. It’s a term from Law, such as “Know by these presents…”
Present, but pronounced differently, can mean “To bring a person into the presence of..”
John the baptist prepared people so they could be presented to the kingdom of heaven. He did this by the message of repentance
and baptism. The washing by water was often done for cleansing.
Without repentance I suppose people would not grasp the kingdom of heaven. They would not attain unto it. They wouldn’t have been able to perceive those things that are of it.
When John saw Jesus, he told Jesus that he had need to be baptized of him, (Matt 3:14) and at the baptism of Jesus, he saw the Spirit
come down from heaven and light upon Jesus.
After listing the credentials in which he no longer placed any confidence, the apostle Paul stated:
My brothers, I do not consider myself to have grasped it (the purpose for which Christ Jesus grasped me) fully even now. But I do concentrate on this: I forget all that lies behind me and with hands outstretched to whatever lies ahead I go straight for the goal – my reward the honour of my high calling by God in Christ Jesus. All of us who are spiritually adult should think like this … Philippians 3: 13-15a (Phillips translation)
Other than brief considerations of past events in order to thank God for His deliverance (not forgetting all His benfits), or to receive a correction in our understanding to help us now, or perhaps to remind us to pray for someone now, “walking down memory lane” can be such a deceitful distraction – the living God is with us now.