The Wrong Way to RE

This year I am tardy to the New Year’s party (once again!). Instead of rushing into a brand new year with goals a-blazing, I’ve walked in quietly, watching and listening. I’ve decided NOT to feel rushed because I haven’t set goals or intentions for the year (yet). Why? Because the prospect of “re-ing” is overwhelming. You know: resolve, renew, review, reflect et cetera. And because I realized there is a right way and a wrong way to RE.

Let me explain.

Word nerds love words. I am a word nerd. So, I did what any word nerd would do. I looked up the definition of RE. Yes, there are several. 

In the Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary and Thesaurus, “re” is a prefix with several meanings. Number three on the list is “back: backward.” This is the wrong way to RE. At the beginning of the new year, we want to look back, but we don’t want to move backward.

Today we’ll talk about how not to RE. Let’s just get it out of the way, so we can begin 2025 properly. 

Recently at a wedding rehearsal, I observed silently from the sidelines. The wedding party walked through the ceremony with only a few hiccups.  The wedding planner was not satisfied.

“Let’s go! Run through it again! It needs to be perfect!”

The wedding party rehearsed again. Very smooth. Almost perfect.

“Okay, y’all almost have it. Let’s go again!”

The wedding party marched down the aisle again, all in good order. Once again, the wedding planner wasn’t satisfied.

“One more time!” Only this time, she got pushback from the party.

“No-o-o-o-o! Not again!”

Don’t Rehearse or Rehash

We need to tell ourselves a resounding NO when we begin to rehearse all our hurts from the past year. Rehearsing hurts will move us backward. When we repeat thoughts in our minds of all the hurtful people and how they have caused us pain, it’s time to stop and take those thoughts captive.

You know how to do that, right? It isn’t about simply quoting the scripture (2 Corinthians 10:5). It’s putting God’s Word into practice. Every time you rehearse a hurt, STOP and replace those thoughts with truth from scripture. DO rehearse taking your thoughts captive. Practice this over and over until it’s second nature to you. Your mind will be renewed by God’s Word (Romans 12:2).

Another wrong way to RE is when we rehash all our mistakes from the past year, or we “what if” the decisions we’ve made. Everyone makes mistakes. But don’t invite your mistakes into your mind and everyday life and live with them forever. Don’t have a pity party with your mistakes. This leads to regret or regression (going backward). 

Don’t Focus on the Negative

Shouldn’t we review our past year? Of course! But we shouldn’t rehearse old wounds and rehash our mistakes. Why? It causes us to focus on the negative, instead of doing what scripture tells us. “Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise” Phil 4:8.

Do This

What can we do when we find ourselves recounting our wounds?

Recognize that Satan causes us to replay our hurts, pains, and mistakes. He wants to distract us. The father of lies wants us to temporarily forget Whose we are. He wants us to forget the power of God in our lives, causing us to fret over yesterday instead of rejoicing over today. 

Scripture tells us to forget what lies behind and reach forward to what lies ahead (Phil. 13b). ‘Forget’ in the original Greek means to dismiss it from the mind and stop remembering. Warren Wiersbe says that to forget means to no longer be influenced or affected by old offenses or errors. He tells us we can break the power of the past by living for the future. God tells us “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us” Psalm 103:12. If God doesn’t rehash our mistakes, why should we?

A new year is 365 new days, each with new mercies from the Lord. Resolve to release all the pains, errors, and what-ifs. Learn from them. Make corrections. And above all, move forward with your focus firmly set on Jesus.

Don’t regress. Don’t rehearse. Don’t rehash.

Do review and remember (more on this next time).

Until His return,

 

 

 

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