Faith, Hope, and Love

I am learning not to dwell on mistakes and faults of the past. That is a difficult thing to do. The pain of betrayal creeps up every now and then with painful memories of the past. And it is tempting to dwell there and feel the pain. But it does me no good.

We run this race called life, and in this race, we stumble...we fall. But if we stop to examine the spot where we fell for too long, we will lose the race. We must get up, dust ourselves off, and continue to move forward, pressing on to the goal. Paul says it best in Phil 3:13 "No, dearbrothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing:Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead." No looking back. We can learn from the past, but we must give ourselves a fresh start. If we dwell on the sins and failures of ourselves and others, it brings a current of disappointment, like a current that would hinder a swimmer.

In order to move forward, we must throw out all the hindrances, the past imperfections of others, the sense of failure. Hebrews 12:1 says, "Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us."

Let's travel light...with a light heart filled with the pure love that only comes from abiding in Christ. It's a love that keeps no record of when it has been wronged. It rejoices whenever the truth wins out. It never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Faith, Hope, and Love—and the greatest of these is Love.