Leaving the past in the past is a hard. Sometimes it seems
impossible. I am embarrassed to admit the number of times I have been kept up
at night worrying about something from the past… like that will change it. Or
sometimes I will think too much about people who are in the past. There are
many things that I wish sometimes that I could change, sins that I wish I didn’t
commit, conversations I would erase, and things that I should have done and
didn’t.
At times, I can really get down on myself about the past,
especially about the sins I wish that I hadn’t committed. I have to really work
on remembering that the only person that truly matters is no longer holding
those sins against me. Yes, my human relationships have been damaged by things
I have done in the past (and, yes, that can be said of everyone on planet
earth). However, the One who created me also redeemed me.
If I allow myself to think about what God has said about
forgiving me of my sins, things don’t look quite so bad. Consider David for a
moment. This was a man who was said to be after God’s own heart. Yet, somehow
he fell into multiple sins all at one time. When Nathan called him out for his
betrayal, adultery and murderous plotting, David said to Nathan, “I have sinned
against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has
put away your sin; you shall not die.” (2 Sam. 12:13) David knew that he had
been wrong. In fact, we can see in Psalm 51 his words of prayer to God after
Nathan confronted him:
1 Have
mercy on me, O God,
according
to your steadfast love;
according
to your abundant mercy
blot
out my transgressions.
2 Wash
me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and
cleanse me from my sin!
3 For
I know my transgressions,
and
my sin is ever before me.
4 Against
you, you only, have I sinned
and
done what is evil in your sight,
so
that you may be justified in your words
and
blameless in your judgment.
5Behold,
I was brought forth in iniquity,
and
in sin did my mother conceive me.
6Behold,
you delight in truth in the inward being,
and
you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
7Purge
me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash
me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8Let
me hear joy and gladness;
let
the bones that you have broken rejoice.
9 Hide
your face from my sins,
and
blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create
in me a clean heart, O God,
and
renew a right spirit within me.
11 Cast
me not away from your presence,
and
take not your Holy Spirit from me.
12Restore
to me the joy of your salvation,
and
uphold me with a willing spirit.
13Then
I will teach transgressors your ways,
and
sinners will return to you.
14Deliver
me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
O
God of my salvation,
and
my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
15O
Lord, open my lips,
and
my mouth will declare your praise.
16 For
you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
you
will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
17The
sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a
broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
18 Do
good to Zion in your good pleasure;
build
up the walls of Jerusalem;
19then
will you delight in right sacrifices,
in
burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;
then
bulls will be offered on your altar.
As sinful people, we need the forgiveness of God to restore
is to personal relationship with God. This forgiveness releases us from the
power of condemnation (Rom 8:1) . It frees us from God’s wrath (Psalm 38:1),
blots out our transgressions in the eyes of God so it looks like they did not
occur (Psalm 51:1, Isa. 43:250, delivers us from death which is the penalty of
sin (Rom. 3:23) and it restores us to communion with God.
No one can forgive like God can. He is the only one whom
which we truly sin against. Psalm 103:12 tells us that God has “removed our sin
as far as the east is from the west.” I can feel unforgiven but that is just
not the truth. I am the one who keeps bringing it up and God is saying that
those sins have already been forgiven. Do you fall into the same boat as I do?
Do you sometimes look at the mistakes of your past and think that God is
holding them over your head? I assure you that he is not. We are indeed
forgiven by the grace of God through Jesus Christ. By the blood of Christ we
have remission of our sins. Let the past remain in the past.
