Skip to Main Content

Getting Past the Past

Originally aired September 27, 2026
MACK WILBERG
Conductor

RICHARD ELLIOTT
Organist

DERRICK PORTER
The Spoken Word

O COME, YE NATIONS OF THE EARTH
Music: German hymn tune
Text: David Warner
Arrangement: Mack Wilberg

HALLELUJAH
from Christ on the Mount of Olives
Music: Ludwig van Beethoven
Text: based on scripture

NORWEGIAN RUSTIC MARCH (ORGAN SOLO)
from Lyric Pieces, op. 54
Music: Edvard Grieg
Arrangement: Richard Elliott

BE THOU MY VISION
Music: traditional Irish hymn
Text: versed by Eleanor H. Hull; trans. Mary E. Byrne
Arrangement: Mack Wilberg

THE SPOKEN WORD
“Getting Past the Past”

WE THANK THEE, LORD, FOR THIS NEW DAY
Music: Mack Wilberg
Text: David Warner

ONE PERSON
from Dear World
Music and Text: Jerry Herman
Arrangement: Ryan Murphy

THOU GRACIOUS GOD, WHOSE MERCY LENDS
Music: English folk tune
Text: Oliver Wendell Holmes
Arrangement: Mack Wilberg




GETTING PAST THE PAST
The Spoken Word
September 27, 2026
By: Derrick Porter


IT’S NATURAL, AT TIMES , to look back on our lives and wonder, “What might have been?” or to say, “If only . . .” Along the way we may accumulate regrets and remember missed opportunities, sometimes focusing more on the past than the future.

Remembering such experiences can be constructive, helping us to change and become better. 1 But focusing too much on the past can be like embarking on a countryside drive only to find ourselves circling the same landmark over and over again.

Getting past the past can be difficult. But as we take the necessary steps to pull away from old circular patterns that repeatedly carry us through the valleys of our mistakes, we find joy. We experience the beauty of new beginnings, new frontiers, and new challenges. The past, now in the rearview mirror, becomes a teacher rather than a master.

But it’s not enough to simply forget the past. Without resolution, guilt lives on. Doing all we can to correct the past enables us to move forward, unshackled and unencumbered. Eventually—though regret may linger—with God’s help our guilt is swept away.

As Charles Spurgeon once proclaimed, “Repentance is the clearing away of the rubbish of the past.” 2 We develop “a tenderness of repentance . . . and of holy desire for the future.” 3 Like the Apostle Paul, as we repent of past mistakes and focus on the future, we can escape the sting of “those things which are behind and [reach] forward to those things which are ahead.” 4

Getting past the past requires us to correct what we can. Paying that price—to the very best of our ability—allows the circular road we may have been traveling to straighten its course and, with heaven’s help, lead us toward new horizons. We then recognize it’s time to move forward. “Whatever mistakes that we have made, whatever debts we have incurred, whatever duties we have deferred, our only way out is ahead.” 5

May we focus on the future by first correcting what we can from the past. Then may we move forward with renewed confidence, allowing the past to be our teacher rather than our master.



  1. See Philippians 3:13, John Calvin’s Commentary on the Bible, Bible Portal, bibleportal.com.
  2. Charles H. Spurgeon, “Christ’s First and Last Subject” (sermon, Aug. 19, 1860), Christian Classics Ethereal Library, ccel.org.
  3. Charles H. Spurgeon, “Their Desired Heaven” (sermon, Aug. 22, 1912), Christian Classics Ethereal Library, ccel.org.
  4. Philippians 3:13, New King James Version.
  5. Richard L. Evans, “Rearview Living” (sermonette, July 16, 1950), richardlevans.org.