The Old Man and the new

I recently rented Solomon Kane from Blockbuster, its a film about a man who spent his life as a mercenary, until he comes face to face with the Devil Reaper and tells Solomon his evil deeds have irrevocably damned his soul, and he is now destined for Hell.


As a result of this encounter, Kane finds sanctuary with Monks, until he is forced to leave one day. Having enbraced a life of peace in an effort to attone for the evils of his past, when events take place Kane choses not to fight back. However when a family that befriends Kane are attacked, mostly killed and the daughter kidnapped, Kane vows to return the daughter to the only surviving member of the family. And the film follows Kane as he embraces his past life of violence to fulfill his vow.


The important part of the film for me is the reason that Kane makes the vow to find the kidnapped girl. With his dying words the father of the family declares that Kane will redeem his soul if he rescues Meredith the kidnapped daughter.


Its a film about redemption fundamentally


Now from a completely theological standpoint, Solomon Kane, could not be any less biblical if it tried, the idea that you can save yourself with your actions is so far short of the mark we know that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and that it is faith and not works that brings about our salvation and therefore our redemption, however, as I walked through town today after finishing the film, I felt God prompting something to be learned from its mistake.


The bible in Colossians 3 says
...seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. (ESV)

As Christians when you accept the gift He offers of salvation you become a new creation,  (2 corinthians 5:17) the old things have passed away and everything becomes new. The past is something that we need not focus or linger on, Paul himself writes in Philippians 3 that he was focusing all his energies into this one thing, Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead.


And so we too should be doing this also. An this brings me to the point I would like to look at.


Paul says he is forgetting the past and looking to the future and I agree with this sentiment, however I believe that we can not pass our life experiences up to today out of hand in our walks with Christ.


Now for Solomon Kane, when looking for redemption he sought Christianity out and found sanctuary with God and a lifestyle of peace, however ultimately it was in the film his past that brought about his redemption, the previous life he had chosen gave him the skills and the ability to complete the vow taht lead to His avoidence of Hell.


For us as Christians, its not quite the same, but we need to keep our past mindful, not dwell on it, but learn from it. Our past experiences have formed the person we are today in the same way the our future experiences will continue to create what we become. Character, personality etc are all effected by our circumstances.


A fantastic speaker called Denis Morgan-Donar once said 'we need to stop praying that our circumstances will change, because what do you get when they do???


Another set of circumstances.'


Whats my point here, - simply that we are told to learn from our past mistakes Hebrews 12: 10-11. SO we can not totally forget the past.


The Old testament showed the Isrealites making notches in their staff as a reminder of the things God had done for them, and our mistakes should be viewed in the same way. Not to dwell on them but to learn from them and move on.


This is what I believe Paul was talking about. Remember that Paul was a Pharasee, he persecued christians and was standing at the stoning of Stephen before being knocked from his donkey in a visitation with the Lord. That he was leaving the past behind him and learning from what had gone on and hoping for the coming future.


Your experiences will always colour your view. They will carve out how your react to situations, how you approach something. AN example from my own life is this: -


Not too long after we moved into our home, I had been feeling unwell and decided to go to bed early. Normally I go round checking that the house is locked and secure before going to bed, however since it was so early I assumed that my wife would do the locking up. SHe however assumed that since I always do it out of habit, that I had done this night also.


At about 3am the following morning, I was woken by the sound of someone downstairs, naturally I flew out of bed, to find a man standing in my hall way. No the sight of me at 3am in my undies is probably not the best view point of me, in fact its probably pretty frighting I must say, add to that at this time I owned a jet black huskey lab cross (who looked very much like a black wolf) who slept at the top of the stairs and had somehow not seen this guy walking into our house as a concern until I hit the stairs at pace, and she went nuts. Being dark it was fierce barking and white teeth and not alot else could be seen.


Thankfully nothing had been stolen from our house, but I learned a valuable lesson that night. Every night since that day, even if I know tha its been done I will go and check that the house is locked up at night.


Its learning from past mistakes, I dont dwell on what could have happened that night, the possiblities are worrying, but that I might not be so lucky next time, so there will not be a next time.


We are an ongoing process, to be Christian means to be christ like, 'little christ' you are not there yet. Aerosmith sing 'lifes a journey not a destination' and for us as christians we know the destination, its the journey that we are on currently to become more like Jesus each day


Philippians 2:5-11 should be the focus of our journey, that basis of it, chooseing everyday to take this on board.


Learning from our mistakes, learning from what the bible calls the old man and becoming a new creation in Christ Jesus. Putting on the New man. Its a process.


28And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28


Not somethings, but ALL things - Past present and future.


Amen and Amen