1-14-2025
Judging my Future
Patrick Henry was born on the family farm in the Colony of Virginia, on May 29, 1736. His father was an immigrant from Scotland who had attended King’s College, University of Aberdeen, before emigrating to Virginia in the 1720s. Patrick Henry shared his name with his uncle, an Anglican minister, and until the elder Patrick’s death in 1777 often went as Patrick Henry Jr. Henry attended a local school until about the age of 10, and afterward was tutored by his father.
Eventually Henry became a lawyer through self-study, after which he began his practice of law. He eventually served in multiple offices of the government and was an enthusiastic promoter of the fight for independence.
The thing that Henry is best known for is a statement that he made to the Second Virginia Convention in 1775. It was here that his contribution to the history books was recorded and made public: “Give me liberty or give me death!” However, that’s not the only quote from Matthew Henry that has been preserved for us. He made another statement that appears in a number of quotation collections.
He said, “I know of no way of judging the future but by the past.”
If you or I were to repeat this before an audience, we would see heads nod in agreement. It has the ring of good common sense. When we think of how to judge the future, it seems only logical to review the past to get an indication of what things might look like moving forward.
We must be careful, though. This axiom might be true when applied to politics or history or investing, but it provides a lousy foundation in other areas of life. And it certainly doesn’t reflect the way God relates to us.
God gives you and me…..and all of us…….a chance to let go of the past and start over every single day. The Old Testament Prophet, Jeremiah, wrote this:
The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
(Lamentations 3:22-23)
While human beings constantly do this, God doesn’t judge our future by our past. He didn’t do it with David or with Moses or with Peter or with Paul. We never read in Scripture where God judged anyone’s future by their past. And here’s the great news: God doesn’t judge you by your past either. In fact, Psalm 103 tells us:
We sinned against him, but he didn’t give us the punishment we deserved.
(Psalm 103:10)
God’s grace and His love are such that He extends His mercy toward us every single morning. Every day meets us brand new. A good way to start the day with God is to remember that you’ve just been given new mercies – the opportunity to begin this day with a clean slate.
Think of it this way: When you are in your vehicle, which is larger – the windshield ahead of you, or the rear-view-mirror that looks behind you? Obviously the windshield. The reason is because it is much more important to be able to see where you’re going that it is to see where you’ve been.
With God, He is much more focused on your future than your past. You can’t go back and change a single thing in your past, but you can start every single day brand new and move forward with God’s help. So don’t allow the past to stand in the way of your future. Like Patrick Henry, I prize liberty, but unlike Henry’s other statement, God judges our future by our potential, not our past. And I, for one, am quite happy about that!!!