The Glory Days

I think there is a real danger in, or an allure to, relive the “glory days.” Perhaps we look back at our younger years with fondness and nostalgia. Maybe there are some great memories from the years prior to knowing Christ. Those “great memories” get better with age, and distance. Were they really wonderful events to be recalled, or a sinful past to be repented of and forgotten?

People tell us—“oh, I wish I had your testimony, I never got to experience any of that stuff” or “I don’t have this amazing story of what God saved me from.” It always frustrates me to be honest. How much more amazing to say “God saved me from ever having to go through those painful experiences.” How I wish I didn’t have the scars of all my sins to carry around in this life. Do not discount the incredible testimony you have.

Don’t look back. There can be no glorifying our sins. The wages of sin is death. There was pain in those days. We forget the pain of childbirth, remembering only the joy of holding that newborn. Don’t forget the “pain” of those sins. Do you REALLY want to go back to a life without Christ? The worst day with Christ is infinitely better than the best one without Him.

Do you struggle with feeling like you “missed out”? Has God spared you from some of the pain others of us had to experience? If so, take time to give Him thanks for the excellent gift you have received.

I will end with a few of the lyrics from a Sara Groves song, “Painting Pictures of Egypt”:

“The places I long for the most

Are the places where I’ve been

They are calling after me like a long lost friend”….

“I’ve been painting pictures of Egypt

Leaving out what it lacked

The future feels so hard

And I want to go back”