Learning from History

Description

Recently, we see a number of people tearing down monuments and statues that represent events and figures in our nation’s history. While some of these statues represent periods in our history that were not pleasant, forgetting history (or re-writing it) is not the way to go.

Winston Churchill said, “Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it.”

God lead people to write the Bible in the context of history.  As such, it gives us direction for living (2 Timothy 3:16-17).  It tells us the good and the bad from history.  So, it not only tells us that God created the world, etc.  It also tells us that Satan is the author of sin, and that people followed along into sin.  Not only have people sinned because they were deceived, but the human race has also turned away from God in willful rebellion.  This problem of sin is universal.  It affects everyone – even those whom we esteem as the heroes of faith.

God does not whitewash history, or sugar-coat it.  Instead, he shows us the failures of the past to teach us not to make the same mistakes that others did.  In learning from history, we are not changing history, but changing our future for the better.  God has commanded us to love others and lead them into a better future – through a relationship with Jesus Christ.