Out with the old and in with the new. The beginning of a new year brings with it lots of thoughts. Usually a new year is associated with goal setting and resolutions. Have you set any goals or made any resolutions? (leave a comment with your resolutions)

A new year is also a time of new beginnings. You are who you are because of your past, but you do not have to continue to live in the past. No matter what it is that may be holding you back, you need to leave it behind and begin to move forward.

Paul said it well in Philippians 3:13

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 understand that I am who I am because of my past experiences. But I sometimes have a hard time remembering that where I have been does not have to be where I am heading. Dwelling on the past can control my future, and I don’t need to go where I have already been. I need to go to a new place, to a new level.

For me, the proof of that comes from Isaiah 43:18-19

Forget the former things;
    do not dwell on the past.
¹⁹ See, I am doing a new thing!
    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland.

 

If you are like me, aside from the problem of holding onto the past comes the issue of fearing the great unknown of the future. It is easy to live in the past because it is familiar territory. There are many problems with that, including not being able to go beyond where you have gone. There is no growth when you live in the past. There is no future when you live in the past.

Moving into the uncharted territory of the future does not have to be a mystery. To help me with that I look to:

Matt 6:34

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

-and-

Psalm 110:105

Your word is a lamp for my feet,
    a light on my path.

 

That is so true—worrying about tomorrow will do me no good. But I don’t have to walk forward alone. Reading God’s word will not only prepare me for where I am going, it will also help me get to where he wants me to be. And I know where he is taking me is much better than where I have been.

So with this new year, are you able to let go of the past and start new? Are you ready to move forward to bigger things, and places you have never been?

Leave a comment to let me know what kind of resolutions you made for the year. Or better yet, let me know how you manage to leave the past behind you and move forward to places you have never been.