Organizing the Inside – Day 280 Traces From My Past

June 9, 2012 at 1:00 pm · Filed under Encouragement, Faith, Inspiration, Purpose, Wisdom, Women's Ministry and tagged: Childhood, Christ, Christianity, Jehoiakim, Past

13And the Lord says, “What sorrow awaits Jehoiakim who builds his palace with forced labor. He builds injustice into its walls… 14He says, ‘I will build a magnificent palace with huge rooms and many windows. I will panel it throughout with fragrant cedar and paint it a lovely red.’ 15But a beautiful cedar palace does not make a great king! Your father, Josiah, also had plenty to eat and drink. But he was just and right in all his dealings. That is why God blessed him. 16He gave justice and help to the poor and needy, and everything went well for him. Isn’t that what it means to know me?” Jeremiah 22:13a-16 (NLT) (Also read Jeremiah 22:17-23)

Jehoiakim had big plans and wanted to build great things, but his past got in the way. Since childhood Jehoiakim was greedy and dishonest. Unlike his father, Josiah, who knew God, Jehoiakim failed to heed to all God’s warnings. Jehoiakim allowed his selfish tendencies to rule throughout his entire life, and his choices eventually led to his demise.

Traces: a sign that remains to show the former presences of something that is no longer there. There are sometimes small traces of negative things that we carry with us from childhood. Perhaps ignored as children and tolerated in our youth, these negative character traits are no longer acceptable in adulthood. Many of us have carried insecurities, fear, jealousy and the like for as long as we can remember. These character flaws and painful memories from our past somehow keep popping up. Whether it’s behaviors, or memories that cause us to act out of character, whichever, neither is pleasing to God and He wants to bring about change in our lives.

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 1 Corinthians 13:11 (NIV)

Holding on to the past, can hinder your future. Jehoiakim’s childish selfishness and greed cost him his life. But …we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. 1 John 2:1 (NLT) I suspect we all have had certain insecurities, fears, selfishness, jealousy and the like that we have managed to pick up and put down again and again, yet somehow we still carry tiny traces of it from our past. God wants us to be finished with the mess from our childhood. When Christ died He took care of our past. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. John 19:30 (NIV) God’s full plan of salvation erased the traces of remnants from our past. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJ)

Let go of anything negative from your past.
Though he was warned, Jehoiakim didn’t want to let go of the negative traits from his past. He had grand ideas about all he wanted to do and build, yet none of it really mattered, because his unwillingness to let go of stuff he carried since childhood kept him from having a relationship with God. When we keep falling back to our old childish ways and even after hearing from God through the scriptures, (warnings) we are still afraid of the dark… we still cling to the past, our progress is hindered. Old things are passed away and we must leave it all under the blood. We cannot allow traces from our past to keep us from honoring God with our choices today. God gave us His Son, Jesus who died to give us an inheritance that no earthly parent could ever provide, eternal life. That eternal life includes complete freedom from traces of our past. If you’ve been trying to build things, yet you find that traces of your past keep getting in the way, go to God in prayer once and for all Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus Philippians 2:5 (KJV) and leave behind those small remnants of your childhood or past that are hindering your progress in the kingdom. Remember, the very last words that Jesus spoke before He died, “It is finished.”

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