Happy New Year…maybe!

What will guarantee you a HAPPY NEW YEAR is the things I want to share with you from God’s Word.

Illus: For example, when President Bill Clinton was going through a sex scandal in the White House the pundits in Washington could not figure out how he could survive this scandal MENTALLY.

That is, almost daily he appeared on television during this time, and it seemed like the very serious allegations that were being leveled against him were not phasing him in the slightest.

1) Some said it was because he was shameless. There are people like this, no matter how evil they have done, nothing shames them.

2) Others, pundits in Washington, had a different take on it. They said, “The only way he could survive this scandal mentally was due to his remarkable ability to compartmentalize.”

That is, some folks have the ability to take something as serious as the allegations being leveled at them, and shove it in a corner of their mind and leave it there. They then go on about the routine of life as if the problem never existed.

I mention that to mention this, one of the remarkable abilities God has given us is the ability to compartmentalize things, such as: Past, Present, and Future.

But some folks have a difficult time compartmentalizing things.

Let’s look at those who have a hard time compartmentalizing-

I. THE PAST

Look at these words in verse 13. We read, “…This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind…”

Have noticed that some people live in the past.

If you listen to them “They talk about the PAST most of the time.”

1) They talk continuously how things were when they were young.

2) They talk about someone done them wrong years ago and they have never gotten over it.

3) They talk about a nasty divorce they went through and have never gotten over it.

4) They talk about the death of a loved one and never gotten over it.

Those things are stuck in the front of their mind as if it just happen a short period of time ago.

We all have heard people say countless times that they wish that they could go back to the good old days. REALLY!!!

Let me see…

• Do you mean you had rather have a clothes line instead of a dryer?

• Do you mean you had rather have an old pot bellied stove instead of a thermostat?

• Do you mean you had rather can your vegetables you have grown instead of going to the supermarket?

• Do you mean you mean you rather have a wash board instead of a washing machine

I like many of the modern conveniences.

• I like GPS in my car instead of a road map.

• I like air conditioning and heat controlled by a thermostat.

• I like a computer over the old typewriters.

• I like spell check instead of digging out a dictionary.

• I like coming to church in a nice car instead of coming to church in a horse and buggy.

What I am saying is this, there are many things about living in the PRESEENT I really like and if someone tried to take these things from me they had better be prepared for a good old fashion butt kicking!!!

One of the most foolish things a person can do in this life is to live in the past.

Illus: A young lady had a college romance with a handsome young man. They got into an argument at the end of the school year, and the next year she did not get a chance to go back to college.

He met another girl and he fell in love with her, and later married her.

But this other young lady is now in her sixties, and she has never gotten over this fellow. She still talks about him like it was yesterday.

Her life has been ruined, because she lived her life wishing she could return to what she thought of as the “Good old days” when she was dating this fellow in college.

Well the fact is, she can live the remaining days of her life still wishing for the “Good old days”, but she can never return to those days.

She cannot enjoy the PRESENT because she lived in the PAST.

So many people live in the PAST they cannot enjoy the PRESENT.

Illus: For example, in Columbia, S.C. there is a mother with two teenage daughters that cannot accept the fact she is getting old and drying up like an old prune. She wears the same kind of clothing her teenage daughters wear. And if you really want to make this woman happy, just walk up to her and say, “I can’t tell which one is the daughter and which one is the mother.”