Came From, Go To
Posted on February 21, 2017 by America's Keswick in Freedom Fighters
“Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you.” -Mark 5:19b
I sometimes have a hard time with people who always seem to live in the past. The conversations start out with “I remember when…”
I have been guilty myself of reminiscing on times past, but to live there can be so defeating. We all have a testimony and should be able to tell of where the Lord found us and brought us out of, but if we only focus on where we came from, we never advance into the next stage of life. So, for me it’s always “Came from, Go To”. Yes, I was delivered but it’s for the purpose of going out with the message of where I came from and how I got here.
It can be comfortable to live in the moment of my salvation and desire the “feeling” of being accepted, but I can’t live off of past experiences. Some of the struggles I hear from men who came out of their addiction is that they want to go back to how they felt when they first got clean. Our conversations usually lead down a road of not continuing what was started. They came out, but never went to. I can sometimes feel consumed with discontentment when I’ve forgotten what my mission in life is.
Jesus has an encounter in Mark 5 with a man who has an unclean spirit. After Jesus delivers the man from his bondage, it seems right for the guy to want to stay with Jesus, but Jesus says, “Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you.”
I’m not saying you have to be a missionary in Africa (unless that’s your calling), but I am saying we need to move past our past. If you can’t think of how God has moved in your recent life then maybe it’s time to move out of your comfort zone and allow God to use you. Then He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” Luke 10:2. And again, after reaching out to the woman at the well when the Disciples came to Him worrying about Him eating, he said in John 4:34-38 “…My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest?’ Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”
So, if today if you’re at a place where the distant past is all you live for or you feel it’s time to “Come From and Go To,” Pray, seek and be willing. Amen!
Written by Rob Russomano: Rob Russomano is married to Terri, he is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and a full time staff member. He is also available as a speaker of the grace of God with a message of Hope for church events. You can contact him at rrussomano@americaskeswick.org.
The Daily Bible Reading: Judges 7-11 | You can download our 2017 Daily Bible Reading Plan by clicking here
Daily Quote: “If we examine our thoughts, we shall find them always occupied with the past and the future.” – Blaise Pascal
This Week’s Verse to Memorize:
My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing to You, And my soul, which You have redeemed. Psalm 71:23
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