DAY 3:

I read somewhere that the happiest animal in the world is the goldfish. Why? Well, because it only has a 10-second memory. Now, I've flushed a lot of goldfish down the... I mean… I've sent a lot of goldfish to the ocean. (All drains lead to the sea, right??) But, it's nice to know that they were happy before they were sent “out to sea.” I wish I could be more like a goldfish, don't you? I mean, not the dying and being flushed down the toilet part. The other part. The part about their memory. 

My memory is a bit more like a dolphin’s. Yes, I did the research for this Bible study - I hope you're impressed! I read that dolphins can remember whistles of other dolphins they lived with after 20 years of separation. Now, when it comes to my memory of my past mistakes, sadly, I'm a lot more dolphin than goldfish. I wonder if you can relate. I feel that way in many areas in my life, too, if I’m honest. I tend to remember the failures more than the successes, the tears more than the joy, the regrets more than the satisfaction, the worries more than the gratitude and the shame, way more than the grace. But that's no way to live our lives, and God says that we don't have to. 

I love this verse from Isaiah 43:18-19- “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 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.” I love that - forget what's behind me, I'm doing a new thing. 

I wrote this line in the song “What If”: “I refuse to be a ‘shoulda, woulda, coulda been.’ I can't go back in time. I don't have a DeLorean.” I grew up in the '80s, and that's why I referenced a DeLorean. One of my favorite movies that came out when I was a kid was Back to the Future. Marty McFly befriends a mad scientist with an obsession for inventing time travel. He turns this DeLorean, a popular sports car, into a time machine, and thanks to illegally purchased plutonium and a flux capacitor, Marty accidentally travels back to 1955. Marty winds up tinkering with the past and trying to create a new outcome for his future, only to wind up making a mess and realizing that his life back in the future wasn't so bad after all. 

At first, I didn't think there was a spiritual take-away from the story of Marty McFly, but just go with me here for a second! Have you ever said something like, “I wish I knew then, what I know now”? We’ve all felt that way before. You learn a lesson. You see how a relationship went wrong. The old cliche is true: hindsight is 20/20. But, in the case of Marty McFly, he was given a chance that many of us would dream of: to go back and undo the past. Essentially, the opportunity to have a do-over.

While do-overs sound good, it's not reality. Too many times, we get stuck wishing we could go back and undo our mistakes. Because we’re busy straining our necks looking behind us, we wind up completely missing the moral of the story - the beauty that can come from the broken, the message that can rise up out of the messes. One of the most life-changing promises that we have to hold onto is that not only has our past been forgiven, but that God can work all things for our good.

Paul was a guy who knew, full well, that God could use even the worst parts of our stories to give Him glory. That’s what set Paul free to be like a goldfish. This is what he wrote, “No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” 

Your sins are forgiven. God remembers them no more. He’s not keeping a list of your mistakes, so you don't have to either. You’re free to be like a goldfish today. You’re free to think like Paul today. Forget what is behind and press on. God's got great plans for you. Let's go! No “what ifs.”