Where are you going?

I've heard this saying before, but recently my Pastor says it a lot at the end of church. "It doesn't matter where you've come from, only matters where you're going."


That phrase can be in regards to your physical life but more importantly in regards to your spiritual life. I don't know why, but this idea has been on my mind a lot lately. Working with teenagers, you have to be careful who you let speak to them. It doesn't matter if you've had a crazy sinful background and then you found Jesus or if you really weren't a bad person it is all about how your testimony is presented.

There's two ends of this string.

On the one end you have a person who was heavy into sex, drugs, alcohol and whatnot. Their testimony can be crazy powerful....IF it is used properly. We don't want to give the teens the idea that it is okay to do it now because you can turn your life around later. (That is why we have to be selective in who we get to speak in that if they have that background, we need to know how they present their testimony.) We want the kids to focus on and realize all the greatness of what this said person has currently with Jesus...even considering what they have done in the past. The focus isn't necessarily where they've been, but it's where they are now and where they are going in the future.

The other end is a person, like me, who was a kid when I was saved, so I didn't really have time to do all the bad stuff. So how can my testimony be powerful? Well it is. God saved my sinful, dying and going to hell soul. But how can I relate with a person dealing with or used to deal with sex, drugs and rock n roll and they think God won't save them because of where they've been? What I realized lately though is that I can use God's word to help me relate to that said person. Paul! Tell them the story of Paul. He was a once MURDERER! Not only a murderer, but a murderer of Christians! Yet, God chose him to do all he did and to even author the majority of the New Testament! And if God loved Paul and forgave Paul, don't you think that He can love even us?! Isn't that crazy exciting to think about! It doesn't matter where you've come from! He loves us still! He forgives us still! He died for us still!

It ONLY matters where you are going!

Where are you going?