What Beyoncé and Paul Have in Common

  I don't know if you've seen Pepsi's latest commercial (thank you YouTube) with Beyoncé doin' her thing, but I was a big fan of the tag line. If you're too lazy to watch the link, here's my quick summary. Beyoncé is practicing her moves in a studio and through the mirrors she sees herself dressed as she was in some of her past videos. The three main outfits are from Bootylicious (throw back from the Destiny's Child era), Crazy in Love and Single Ladies. She does some of the moves from those videos and then all of the Beyoncés dance together until the mirror explodes. Pretty great, huh? After a swig of Pepsi and a hero shot of Beyoncé, the camera zooms in on her face and we hear a voice over that says "Embrace your past, but live for now." Yikes! We as Christians could really take notes on that one!
  How often do Christians walk around trying to cover up their past deeds and issues? We like to paint this pretty picture about how happy and great we are. We give off this vibe of perfection that makes non-Christians either hate us or feel like they could never be good enough to join us. With this lifestyle and mindset, we turn Christianity into a nightclub where we become the bouncers and let people know they are certainly not cool enough to go inside. But reality shows us that we are all failures. Does that hurt? It hurt me for a while. 
  I used to live with, and if I'm being honest sometimes still fall back into, the mindset of, "Man, I've lived a good life." It's almost as if I think that Jesus is lucky to have me on his team. Go ahead and laugh, I know how absurd it is. And then I know others who are opposite. They try to ignore their past and shove it under the rug, ashamed of how they used to live. Both are dangerous lifestyles. And whichever relates to you, remember that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23), but "if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (2 Cor. 5:17).
  So no matter who you used to be, when you come to Christ you are made new. But please, please don't forget who you were. You have a story. You have something to share. Your past relates to someone's present. Look at Paul. He spent his early days attempting to remove the stench of Christianity from his Jewish world. He fought with all his heart, using the great basis and knowledge of Scriptures that he learned under one of the most influential teachers of his time, Gamaliel. He argued, he fought, he persecuted. And what I love most about Paul is that, when he became a Christian, he still spoke of his past.  In Galatians, Paul says, "For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews of my own age and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers (1:13-14)." Your past may not have been pleasing to God, but let him use it. If you try to avoid it, you are missing out on the one thing that can make a bad past worthwhile. You are missing out on the chance to share it with someone and allow God to use it to open their eyes. So whether your past is steeped in internal sins, like those of pride and selfishness, or the external kind of sexual promiscuity and drugs, embrace it. Give it to God and let him make it beautiful. Listen to Beyoncé and Paul. They may not agree on dance moves or other areas of life, but I bet they would both tell you that you need to embrace your past and live for now.