“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
“Woooooo. Here Pig. Sooie! Woooooo. Here Pig.
Sooie! Woooooo. Here Pig. Sooie!
In a cloud of flying mud and dirt, the pigs big and small came running in response to Granny’s long, loud hog call. Pushing, shoving, trampling one another trying to reach the slop trough. A new level of stink arrived with them. We thought it was wonderful in a nasty kind of way.
“Granny, why don’t you wash them, so they don’t smell so bad?”
“Granny, can they smell their stink?”
“Granny, doesn’t it bother them that they’re so dirty?”
“Granny, why are they so mean to each other? They’re rude!”
“Granny, why can’t we get in the pen so we can pet them?”
Granny’s gruff answer to our little girl questions: “if I bathed those pigs, the first thing they’d do afterwards is run straight back to their mud puddle and wallow in it! They like being dirty. They like their stink. If you got in that pen, they would step all over you just like they do each other – they wouldn’t care if they hurt you – all they care about is eating.”
Every time I read or hear the story of the prodigal son, I think about the pigs in the pigpen on my Granny’s farm. My stomach clenches and does a spinning turn or two when I think about the wayward son who is starving to the point of envying the pigs’ “pod” feast. The son’s story ends when he returns home, humbled in spirit and contrite in heart, where he is welcomed, forgiven, restored, and celebrated by his loving father. (Luke 15:11-24)
Jesus concludes the parable telling of the harsh reaction to the wayward brother’s return by the hard-hearted elder brother. (Luke 15:25-32) What you will NOT read in the narrative of the prodigal son or anywhere else in Scripture is that the prodigal son returned to visit the pigs as often as possible. No! It didn’t happen!
The pigs were in his past. That unsavory period in his life was over. His hateful behavior toward the father was forgiven. No wallowing in the past for the prodigal son. He was once again the son of the wealthy father; he enjoyed the privileges and the responsibilities of his sonship.
Do you think he forgot about the pigs? Not for one moment – trust me, you don’t spend time with pigs and forget about it. The smell of the pigs? Nope, that stench was an olfactory memory that would never die. That pigpen experience was part of his past, but IT WAS NOT PART OF HIS PRESENT, nor would it be part of his future.
The pigpen belonged to the prodigal, not to the reinstated, forgiven son.
I realize I’ve taken license with this parable, but the principle is scriptural.
“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
When we accept Jesus as our LORD and Savior, our pigpen of a past is put behind us – doesn’t matter if it was a nice, neat, clean “pigpen” or a disgustingly nasty one. The pigpen life is over – the old has passed away. We are now daughters of the Father living in the privileges bestowed on us by that relationship – the new has come.
The problem is that many professed believers seem to have a hard time disconnecting from the pigpen. I’ve known Christians who spend most of their conversation and time talking about, thinking about, and/or writing about their time in the pigpen. Always looking backwards, always ready for another “wallow.”
I like this quote from Experiencing God Day By Day,
“The people of the world focus on what they are overcoming.
Christians focus on what they are becoming.”1
I wonder if the wording should be slightly changed to “Christians SHOULD focus on what they are becoming.” Too many of us get hung up on the “wallowing,” and lose focus of the “becoming.”
For some it is an unending battle to put the past behind them – battling not to be pulled back into the pigpen life, for others it is the lingering guilt of the pigpen that drags them into mentally reliving the past, and then there are those who seem to relish reveling in the memories of their escapades in the pigpen. Whatever the case, if you have accepted Christ, your pigpen life is in your past – it is part of the old. Sister, the NEW has come. It is time to focus on “becoming.”
That means surrendering your past – all of it, the whole person that you were pre-Christ – to God. Your past is forgiven; it is covered by the blood of Christ. It has been washed clean.
“…Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.” Isaiah 1:18
“HE (GOD) does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is HIS steadfast love toward those who fear HIM; as far as the east is from the west, so far does HE remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear HIM.” Psalm 103:10-13
You’ll never do this in your own strength. This is GOD WORK. The work of the Holy Spirit of God in you. And if there are issues in your past that require guidance by godly professionals, whether that be a pastor or counselor, don’t hesitate to seek that assistance.
The following prayer is loosely modeled on a prayer written by the Apostle Paul for the Christians in Ephesus (Ephesians 4:14-21). It is my prayer for you, dear reader, and one that you can rewrite in first person for yourself.
Father God,
I bow before YOU, LORD.
You are Almighty God in Whom we, Your children, find our identity and our being. In the riches of Your glory, grant that we be strengthened with the power of Your Holy Spirit within our innermost being, knowing with certainty that Jesus Christ, Your Son, lives in our hearts. Firmly root and ground us in Your love. Let us recognize the enormity of Christ’s transforming love in our lives. Fill us completely with Your presence.
Father, we don’t begin to understand or claim to know all that YOU can and will do in us according to Your mighty power that is at work in each of us. Teach us to trust YOU in all things. Humble our hearts, help us to surrender our past, our present, and our future fully to YOU. Break any ties or bonds within us that would pull us back into the pigpen of the “old,” let us move unfettered into the “new” – the future that YOU have planned for us.
In the powerful name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.
When we are constantly looking behind, it makes forward progress almost impossible.
“…One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13-14
1Henry T. Blackaby & Richard Blackaby, “Experiencing God Day by Day,” B&H Publishing Group, Nashville, TN, 2009, p. 315