Quit Sawing Spiritual Sawdust!

Our house recently went through a major transformation when we added a new living space for my mother-in-law. During construction, the carpenters cut a lot of lumber, leaving behind huge piles of sawdust. They were extremely careful to measure twice and check their work before cutting. They knew that cutting wood is a permanent change.

Once wood is cut, you cannot simply put it back together. Even if you try to glue the pieces back, the wood will always be shorter because of the “kerf”—the slot of wood lost to the saw blade itself. The joined wood also loses much of its original strength.

Sawdust is just the waste product of productive work. It is completely useless for building, so we sweep or vacuum it away. If you saw someone trying to saw a pile of sawdust, you would think they were crazy. You cannot saw sawdust. It produces nothing of value.

Spiritual Sawdust

Unfortunately, many people waste a massive amount of time sawing “spiritual sawdust.”

Sawdust is a visual reminder of a cut that has already been made. In a sense, it represents the past. It is the waste left behind after a separation occurs.

Many people make a decision—or fail to make one—and then spend years reliving it. They constantly dig up old pain, replay the memories, and refuse to let the past go. Instead of leaving the decision behind, they drag it into the present and agonize over it again and again.

This constant agonizing only leads to bitterness, misery, regret, self-reproach, and an inability to forgive. You cannot change the past, and you cannot “uncut the wood.”

So, what can we do instead?

5 Steps to Deal with the Past

1. Accept it and own it. The past is permanent and cannot be changed. Think of it like stepping on a scale. The number on the scale reflects your past choices, not your future intentions. Wishing the number was different won’t change it. However, you can make different choices today to see a different number next time. The past is exactly like that scale—you can no longer change what has already happened.
2. Repent and ask for forgiveness if needed. Sometimes we beat ourselves up over bad decisions that were not actually sins, like leaving a good job or not finishing college. These things might cause regret, but they do not require repentance (turning away from sin and returning to God). However, if your past choice was a sinful rebellion against God, you must seek His forgiveness to move forward. In Revelation 2:5, Jesus told the Ephesian church to repent and do their “first works”—the faithful habits they had abandoned. 1 John 2:1 assures us that God is faithful to forgive. If you struggle with this, you can read more about forgiving yourself here. If you have wronged someone else, seek their forgiveness quickly so you can make amends and move on.
3. Learn from the experience. Rumination (reliving regrets over and over) does no good, but learning does. Take a moment to analyze your mistakes. What led to that choice? What was your attitude at the time? How can you avoid making the same mistake in the future? You can take away Satan’s victory by turning a past failure into a learning experience for God.
4. Let it go. The past is not holding onto you; you are holding onto it. By holding on, you give the past power to ruin your future. If you have repented and asked God for forgiveness, He no longer holds your sin against you. Learn the lesson, and then let it go. You cannot undo the past, but you can stop letting it control your present.
5. Create tomorrow’s fruit. Where you are today is the result of past choices. Where you will be tomorrow is the result of the choices you make today. You can choose a new direction, travel at a different speed, and find new companions. You can build on the foundation of your past or, if necessary, build on its ruins. Plant good seeds today so you can harvest good fruit tomorrow.

*I cannot remember where I first heard the illustration of trying to saw sawdust. It is not original to me.