What's Past is Prologue - William Shakespeare - Articles

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What's Past is Prologue - William Shakespeare

Greg Stierle
12/01/22 - Monthly Article

What's past is prologue

William Shakespeare

By Greg Stierle

I heard this quote a few weeks ago. The article I was reading used it to describe how we are all products of our past. What happened to us has made us who we are today. The point seemed to be that we are trapped by our past. The quote has rattled around in my head since then. I really like the idea of our past being prologue

Prologue (noun) - a separate introductory section

Every one of us has a past. We’ve each done noble things and ignoble. There are things that we are proud of and things we regret. But it’s all in the past.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

2 Corinthians 5:17

I had a friend in college who managed to accumulate $20,000 in credit card debt before she became a Christian, all on clothes and entertainment. Then she became a Christian. That was a part of her prologue. Our story begins with a young girl deeply in debt, having made poor choices…. But prologue is all that it was. It wasn’t the real story.

Prologue is just the background to get you to the real story. She got to decide what happened next. She chose to stop using credit cards. She chose to live simply and pay what she could toward the debt. It took her 4 years but she paid it all off. She was a better person and a noble example because of how she dealt with her prologue.

Some of us are in tough circumstances. Some of us are struggling with chronic pain or illness. Some of us may have sinned and hurt someone else. Some of us may be struggling even now with secret sin. You may feel like you are carrying a burden that is too heavy to bear. What can you do?

I encourage you to think of it as prologue. Your real story begins today. All that past is a separate, introductory section. The narrator tells all that background… now you choose how to begin. Now you choose how to overcome. You are the hero of this story. You get to decide who you get to be. God has given us that freedom. God has given us one another to help carry burdens and lift one another up as we draw nearer to him. Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Decide to overcome. Decide to live for Him. Choose to finish strong the race you are running.

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

1 Tim 4:7-8

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called

Eph 4:1