Title The past and present can also change.
Contents
There are people who are hurt by the past. There are people who have suffered bitter wounds from the past or have lost the joy of life today because of the fact that they committed a great sin in the past. To be honest, who is in this place without any past wounds or sins? The longer you live, the more past you have, the more the past can leave more scars.
However, there are times when the wounds of the past turn into glory. The past can also be changed. This does not mean buying indulgences and changing the past. It's not like erasing all the bad past with an eraser. The memories of the bad past are still there, but today's victory gives a new interpretation of the pain of the past. It seems a bit difficult to explain, so let's explain it in an easy way.
A baseball game is being played. One team was losing 0-7 by the beginning of the ninth. Moreover, Kim Won-hyo, the 4th batter of the losing team, had the worst performance of 4 strikeouts and 4 strikeouts. As a 4th hitter, I couldn't help myself. Now it's the last ninth horse. It's almost like losing the game. However, at the end of the ninth runner, the runner survived like this, and the fourth batter, Kim Won-hyo, hit a full-base home run to finish off. Miraculously, they beat the opposing team 8-7.
This team was a poor team from the 1st to the beginning of the 9th. Moreover, Kim Won-hyo, the 4th batter, struck out 4 and was the biggest cause of the defeat. But in the ninth inning they came back to win. At this time, past defeats are interpreted as a process for glory due to present victories. On the contrary, because there was a bitter past of defeat, the joy of today's victory is greater. Moreover, Kim Won-hyo, the 4th hitter who hit a home run to finish the reversal, became the protagonist of a dramatic victory with today's home run, which he did not do before. In other words, the more miserable the past, the greater the joy of overcoming it.
There are people who don't know much about baseball and don't like it, so let's take a soccer match as an example. Many Koreans choose the match against Italy in Korea as the most memorable match of the 2002 World Cup. At that time, Ahn Jung-hwan got a chance to take a penalty kick, but he made a mistake. I kicked the ball in the wrong place. Then the opposing team's Vieri scored the header. Now the match was almost over. A shadow of darkness was cast on the Korean bench. What will Ahn Jung-hwan become if he loses like this? It will probably remain a scar for the rest of your life.
However, with two minutes left before the match ended, Seol Ki-hyeon scored the equalizer. And it went into overtime. The first team to score any goal wins. It's called Golden Goal. However, Ahn Jung-hwan, who missed the penalty kick, scored the golden goal. In the end, the Korean team beat the contendered team, the Italian team, 2-1. It was the Korean team that was losing until a while ago. But the victory of the present has washed away the wounds of the past. The past remains the same, but today's victory glorifies the past.
Some of us suffer from the pain of the present as well as the wounds of the past. However, present failures and sufferings can also be reinterpreted by future victories to come. In other words, the suffering of the present can rather be the glory of the victory in the future. Let's take an easy-to-understand example.
My father's business went bankrupt in our family. The business went bankrupt. No one gives the money, only the debtors rush in. This caused my father to go to jail. The family ran out of money and became destitute. Poverty has come like a tide. "Why is this happening to our family who believes in God?" It was very difficult at the time.
But while in prison, my father stopped drinking, which he loved so much. I read the Bible several times in prison. My faith also grew. I became humble. I became a person who always prayed to God. Then God blessed our family anew. In the end, looking back, the hardships of the present turned into a beautiful process through the glory of the future. This is today's text. ?쏧 consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed in us??(Romans 8:18).
Guys, is the past holding you back? Is the present bothering you? The wounds of the past can be turned into glory in the victory of the present. Even the pain of the present can be a testimony to the victory of the future. Therefore we no longer mourn or cry over the past. Don't be discouraged or angry by the present. For us who are in Jesus, the past and the present can be changed.
Look at Joseph. At the age of 17, he was trafficked by other brothers and sold into slavery. He was falsely accused of being a rapist and sentenced to prison. He must grind his teeth softly at the thought of past wounds. "These bastards to kill!" And even when I'm sleeping, I have to talk about sleep. If you look at the present pain, you must commit suicide and die. But he changed his bitter past and present pain in God.
After enduring 13 years of suffering and overcoming it, God made him the prime minister of Egypt. As I looked back at the prime minister?셲 seat, the painful past was a beautiful process that made today?셲 victory even more wonderful. The brothers who sold themselves into slavery became benefactors, not enemies. The wife of General Potiphar, who was unfairly framed as a rapist, became a channel of blessing that should be awarded a certificate of commendation.
The Bible says ?쏛ll things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose??(Romans 8:28). In God, the bitter past and the reality of suffering all work together to become instruments for good. Even those who are like enemies and those who are weary will be used as instruments of blessing in God. Therefore we do not weep and mourn over the past. Don't be offended by today.
In Jesus, even a person who was a prostitute in the past becomes a testimony of the past because of today's change. In Jesus, even those who were publicans in the past can sing of the Lord's grace even greater through today's change. Each of us can turn past defeats into good memories with today's great victories.
There is a hymn that we Christians most enjoy singing. This is a hymn called "Amazing Grace, who saved a sinner like me." The song was written by John Newton. His past was a cruel slave trader he didn't even want to think about. As a human being, I did a lot of bad things that betrayed humanity. He also had a bad past when he wanted to hide this fact from his children.
But he received the grace of Jesus. His life, which had been oppressed by the sins of the past, has gained new light. I was so grateful for the grace of forgiving a bad person like myself. That's why we sing that grace like this. "Amazing grace! How sweet the sound! That saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found; Was blind, but now I see )"
Everyone, if you believe in Jesus, the past will change. No, the past remains the same, but because I am changed today, the past is also under the change. That is, the past no longer condemns me. In Jesus, we can sing and cry out, ?쏰ld things have passed away; behold, the new has come??(2 Corinthians 5:17). This is human discipline, not human effort. It is only the grace of God in Jesus.
We know. In Jesus, the past and the present are also changed... Are there any bad people around you today? Are there any factors that make your life unhappy? Are you ashamed of your past? Don't worry too much. In the future, it all turns into a process of glory. It becomes a channel that shows God's grace more greatly.
We have Saint Sanghyeok Lee who attended the service a few months ago in our church. I am now recuperating here in a Calgary hospice facility. As you know, a hospice facility is a place for people who are about to die. Saint Lee Sang-hyeok is also in the late stage of stomach cancer. Cancer has spread throughout the body. Sometimes it's hard to even breathe. Cancer is also spreading to the lungs. For him, today's reality is despair. Moreover, living waiting for the moment of death to come is the most difficult moment in life.
However, a few days ago, Saint Lee Sang-hyuk said that he had a dream. He got on the tour bus, and now he has arrived at the hotel and got off, but he was a little hesitant to get off at the hotel. But when I got off at the hotel, the hotel was so comfortable and nice. After the dream, he felt so good that he laughed for a long time.
Folks, we all face a moment of death. It is the greatest pain I have ever suffered in the past and present. However, even such pain can be overcome by looking at the Heaven Hotel. When you gain the joy of heaven, the pain of death in the past and present becomes a pathway to greater happiness. And even the disease of death, which tormented me, becomes an instrument of grace that enables me to meet the Lord I love.
Therefore, there is no need to mourn that the moment of death has now come. The moment we receive eternal life in the future, we can sing this song of victory toward death. "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" (1 Corinthians 15:55)
Conclusion. The fact that there have been defeats and failures in the past does not mean that life is completely ruined. My happiness is not completely deprived of my current problems. Because we have greater victories and happiness in Jesus, the past can become good memories, and our present misfortunes can be turned into greater happiness. In the name of the Lord, I pray that you may overflow with this overwhelming sense of happiness that Jesus gives you.