Moving on

There is a Peanuts comic strip where Linus says, “Maybe we should only think about today.” 

Charlie Brown disagrees with Linus and says, “No, that’s giving up. I’m still hoping yesterday  will get better.” 

There might be a little truth in both of their perspectives. We know that we can’t change what happened yesterday, but we can learn from yesterday’s sins and mistakes, and--with God’s help--we can use that knowledge to make a better tomorrow.

Think of all the examples we have from the Bible. Many of them made bad mistakes, but did not let it keep them down and they went on to do great things. Paul started out persecuting the church, yet he became one of the greatest servants the church has ever known. 

Moses doubted God when he was first being called, but went on to leads God’s people out of Egypt. Peter walked on water only to take his eyes off Jesus and began to sink. He often stuck his foot on his mouth and denied three times that he was one of Jesus disiples or that he even knew Jesus. But he went on to preach on the day of Pentecost and was a great leader in the church.

The question for us is not whether or not we have made mistakes, because we all have. The question is, “What have we done with those mistakes?” 

Have we learned from them and moved on, or do we let them continue to drag us down? It is not the mistake that will define us, it is what we decide to do with it afterwards. Embrace God’s grace, move on, and become the person that God has called you to be!