200th post: Great things He hath done

For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH;
and while being reviled, He did not revile in return;
while suffering, He uttered no threats,
but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously;

and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness;

for by His wounds you were healed.

For you were continually straying like sheep,

but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.

(1 Peter 2:21-25, NASB)

Being human

These words were written somewhere and or spoken by someone, "the scars remind me that the past is real."

That statement contains some truth. I think scars are a vivid reminder that there are consequences for an action, that there is a price to pay for every decision made. I am halfway through the book 'when dreams come true' (kindly lent to me by lingy) and the stories of eric and leslie (authors of the book) made me rewind and recollect some of the blunders, follies and sin which I have committed in my teenage years. Some leave a mark that cannot be erased from my memory, ever. To have regret at such a tender age is really a tragedy.

However, to stop at the stage of "..the past is real" is really depressing, it silently suggests that the future is bleak and will be shadowed by your past. Its a hopeless state, something that a christian should not fall into. A christian has hope in Christ, I feel that hope is what keeps a human living, a human without hope will die, a human 'living' without hope is merely existing - in insanity.

Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind andreaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you; however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained. (Philipians 3:13-16)

God has reminded me through the above passage that while the past is real, God's purpose of placing events in my life is not superficial - for the sake of a mere occurrence, like a filler, God has a purpose behind each trial and behind all that happens in my lifetime.

While scars remind me that the past is real, above that, it reminds me that the need for utter dependence on my Almighty LORD is real. In this life, dependence on the LORD is the only sensible conclusion for all the evils, insanity, pain, injustice, utter depravity and hopelessness which exists in the mortal realm.

The focus in life should not be the past nor present but eternity. The focus in life should not be on the light and momentary sufferings but the eternal glory that outweighs them all. The focus in life is not self but Him - the creator of the universe, Jesus Christ, Jehovah God to whom salvation belongs.