Oh, the mistakes I made, mistakes that no one knew about, mistakes that no one expected, because I’m pretty sneaky at looking put together, especially in the spiritual realm. This does not mean that we employ deceptive tactics. In fact, most people who know me say that I am quite susceptible to struggle and failure.
But being a perfectionist, coming from a judgmental church, and attending a private Christian school with roots in legalism, you can learn the art of pretending. This is especially dangerous during the formative years because it gives adolescents a distorted perception of God’s grace and leaves them spiritually empty when adulthood reveals how complex, messy, and challenging life is.
Although I have been on a journey with Jesus for almost 20 years, I am only now beginning to understand the bare basics of God’s grace and mercy, and willingly believe that God’s goodness and blessings are not based on my performance, nor are they thwarted or controlled by my failures. Rather, because God is good and sovereign and always has my best interests in mind, no matter how significant my failures, I can trust in His forgiveness and the plan He has for me.
If you are like me, exhausted by the burden of personal sin, or if you come from a church rooted in judgment and shame, I encourage you to consider these four scriptures that remind us not to cling to the past.
“For I will have compassion on their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Hebrews 8:12 (ESV)
If God does not remember, there is little reason to drag past mistakes into the present. In a sense, you are gaslighting yourself spiritually, convincing yourself that the moment you repent, the burden on your heart is lifted.
What I love about God no longer remembering our sins is God’s ability to “forget” sins. He won’t forget from neglect or brain fog. It is not God’s character to act carelessly or ignorantly. Instead, God chose to forget our sins. As humans, we often forgive but cannot forget, but God, even in His omniscience, actively chooses to ignore us when He knows we will repeat the same transgressions over and over again.
This is God’s mercy. Even though we withhold bitterness and skepticism, God certainly has a right to feel about how we are abusing His eternal grace. But like our good and perfect God, all we have is endless love and new opportunities.
Because of God’s mercy, we can face each day with the forgiveness, hope, and new beginnings that God has so freely given us. By accepting these gifts, we honor God’s love and release the guilt and shame that God no longer remembers.
2. Isaiah 43:18-19
“Forget what was before. Stop dwelling on the past. Behold, I am doing a new thing. It is springing up now. Do you not realize it? I am making a way in the wilderness and in the streams of the wilderness.” Isaiah 43:18-19 (NIV)
Just as God no longer remembers our sins, so we are commanded to do the same. But Isaiah goes a step further and issues a command. We should no longer dwell on the past, but look at the new things God is doing in this moment.
It is a command to be where we are and actively seek God’s hand, His mercy, and His daily bread to sustain us. (After all, it is impossible to live today when the mind, and therefore the spirit, remains stuck in the past, repeating mistakes, second-guessing decisions, and despairing about the future.)
It is important to remember that God’s goodness does not depend on our performance, but our ability to see God’s unwavering goodness depends on our willingness to open our spiritual eyes to the goodness and glory of each new day.
God is aware of the wastelands and deserts in which we trudge through in this fallen world. God is also aware of the wastelands and deserts we are in as a direct result of our sinful and selfish decisions. Yet, God actively provides a way out, forgiveness, restoration, hope, and joy, but if we continue to focus on the barren ground of the past, we will not see His salvation paved before us.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come; the old is gone, and the new is here. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” 2 Corinthians 5:17-18 (NIV)
God does not force His children to live in their present freedom. That is the goodness God extends, the freedom we have to choose how we modify our thinking and where we place our purpose and values. But God gives us gifts that could never be found outside of His goodness. And although through this immense gift of salvation we have been given a new life, spiritually speaking our former life is gone.
When we remember that God has scattered our sins from the west to the east (Psalm 103:12), we are free to extend that same reconciliation to others. We can better repair what is broken, forgive what seemed impossible, and become symbols of God’s incredible grace and mercy to a lost and perishing world.
To dwell on the past is to ignore the reconciliation that is available to us today, and to deny that present gift is to stifle our witness. Therefore, the cycle of guilt and shame that we feel trapped in is the same one that causes others to wander around because we are unwilling to find freedom and joy in sharing the gift of newness in God each day.
Our freedom was bought with the ultimate price, the blood of the perfect Son of God, and to put that gift away because we don’t want to let go of the past is not only a disregard for our mission, but an affront to the Cross.
“Jesus answered, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit to serve in the kingdom of God.”” Luke 9:62 (NIV)
If we choose to live in the past and dwell on sin and past mistakes, whether we have sinned or someone has left us with damage, we are not fit to actively participate in the kingdom of God. This does not mean that we are not saved, but that we are not engaged in the mission of establishing and growing God’s reign on earth.
As the passage in Luke says, not only are we of no use to God on earth, but we are also unfit to enjoy heaven. This may seem strange, but consider the spiritual reality of heaven. In heaven, we must let go of all sin, hurt, guilt, temptation, and shame in order to embrace the eternal fullness of God’s salvation.
We cannot accept shame, hurt, or guilt. Just have God’s mercy and salvation. And if we claim to be one of God’s children, saved by His righteousness, it should not only be our mission, but it should be our heart’s desire to press forward, press forward, and press toward God’s own prize.
A noble call to not be stuck in the past
When the enemy is trying to crush you into the past, when you’ve made a mistake and are convinced that God won’t use you, consider the gift of God’s voice, the purposeful joy that God longs to share with you.
“I am pressing forward toward the goal of winning the prize for which God has called me heavenly in Christ Jesus. So all of us who are mature should have that view of things. And if you think differently at some point, God will make it clear to you as well. But let us live true to what we have already accomplished.” Philippians 3:14-17 (NIV)
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Peyton Garland is a writer, editor, and mom of a boy who lives in the beautiful foothills of East Tennessee. For more encouragement, subscribe to her blog Uncured+OK.
