What's In YOUR Attic?

Hebrews 11:15 – “And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return.” 

There are two really cool things that I remember about the house that I grew up in.  First, we had the best, most adventurous basement in the whole neighborhood, with secret passages behind the walls, which were great for playing the game “hide and seek”.  Second, our amazing attic.  It was right next to my bedroom.  It had a small door you had to squeeze through to enter, but once inside, you could stand up and walk around.  There was so much stuff up there, old stuff.  Old photos, decorations, and keepsakes from decades ago.  I guess that’s what attics are for, a place to store old things from the past.  When you look around it and dig through boxes, it brings back lots of memories…good ones…and not so good memories.  

In Hebrews 11:15, the author is warning us that if we “call to mind” that from which we came out, we would have opportunity to return.  If we meditate on, dwell on, are attracted to, keep looking back at the past, we are tempted to return to a place that we have already left.  We are not meant to be there anymore, but if we look with fondness or longing to that place, it says that we will have the opportunity to drift backwards to that place. 

If we’re not careful, our minds can take us backwards to things that we have already overcome in our lives.  Things in “the attic” of our minds, old negative memories.  It’s okay to think once and awhile on the good memories!  The family traditions and special mementos that are woven into the fabric of our families, the good things that make us who we are today and make us unique as a family.  But not those things in “the attic” that pull us down and try to pull us back to where we have been delivered from.  

In Hebrews 11:15, he is speaking of a life that “looks” forward to what’s ahead, not backward to the past.  What’s in YOUR attic that’s trying to pull you backward instead of meditating on the amazing plans that God has for you?  The vision God has given you for the future!  What’s in your attic that’s drawing you and tempting you to go back there?  Well, stop looking at it!!!  Clean out that “attic”, once and for all. Your best days are ahead of you, not behind you!