I’m sure if I allowed comments on this site some people would troll me for using this title. I get it. But what does it mean to regress into our past life as Christians? Is there such thing as past-life regression? Well yes and no. No in the way of the world involving hypnosis. Unfortunately (and all to commonly) Yes in the way of living the life that was supposedly dead and buried after salvation and baptism. All too often people seem to find excuses to live again in their old life/lifestyles. Some of the common ways people fall back are as follows: (this is not my list – I am agreeing with it however)
- Rationalization – Dishonesty with self and others laden with excuses on why its now OK.
- Emotions/Coping Mechanism/Depression – Your old life is an escape from the new stresses of living a new, redeemed life.
- Denial – It’s not that bad… tomorrow I’ll get back to the new life.
We know we are not to go back, but in order to live there, we need to get to a place where going back is not an option. So what are we founded on? The first answer should be Jesus Christ. Jesus was The Word made flesh. So we also need to be founded on the Word of God (the Bible). Do you believe the Bible is true? How many people have I met who want to pick and choose which parts of the Bible are true. The problem with picking and choosing is which parts do you believe? If God’s Word is not a reliable source of truth, what other standard to we cling to? In picking and choosing what to believe (taking what we want and leaving the rest), I sense a parallel to the garden of Eden – knowing the difference between right and wrong. It leaves us in a position of deciding what is best for us, instead of relying on God who always wants and does what’s best for us.
We are encouraged to remember what God has delivered us from, but we are never encouraged to go back to our filth and roll around in it. What business does light have with darkness? We see it in Exodus over and over as Moses is leading the people to the promised land and they keep complaining that they should never have left Egypt. How many of us have started our Christian life out with amazing signs and wonders and then find ourselves wandering around in the desert wishing we were back where we came from… (it wasn’t so bad.) The place where this picture is incomplete is in Jesus Himself. Jesus said the Kingdom of heaven is near in . He also went on to say that His kingdom was not an . Paul reminds us in many places including to live as citizens in/of Heaven.
I will be revisiting this topic in the near future – but today I’m out of time.
