“You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil – the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.” (Ephesians 2:2-3 NLT)
You may want to sit down before you read this next line. You ready? We all have a past! Yep, told you! Staggering! But the irony is, we often go to extreme lengths to not share that part of our walk with others – often to our own demise!
As Jesus followers there are three primary ways we deal with our past. First, we try to avoid disclosing it at all costs. We’re so ashamed of who we were, we’re concerned if anyone really knew what kind of person we were, they’d shun, forsake, ridicule, label, or deny us the privilege of being embraced as a brother or sister. Never stopping to consider we’re all – every single one of us – sinners saved by grace.
Your sin may have looked different than mine, but it all separated us from Jesus and seeks to continue to separate us from one another.
The second way we seek to deal with our past is to use it as a crutch or excuse for who we are. My sense is this is the person who doesn’t really want to walk with Jesus, they just don’t want to go to hell. They continue in a lifestyle of sin but use their past as an “explanation.” “I can’t help but __________, because that’s just ‘who I am!’”
That’s what Paul addresses in 1 Corinthians 6:11 when, after sharing a long list of sins in the earlier verses, he writes: “Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”
The Bible doesn’t teach repentance to enable us to stay the same, but to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. When we learn to think differently, we’ll learn to act differently. We want to follow our feelings that lead us straight to hell, rather than discipline our mind to know God’s Word and apply it to our lives through the power of God’s Holy Spirit.
Crawford Loritts wrote: “Your past may explain you but it doesn’t excuse you.” To be born again of the Spirit of God is to be put on a new life’s track. To profess faith in Christ and continue to live in habitual sin is to deny the power of the Spirit who cleansed us and freed us from sin’s grip.
That relates to the third path that can enable us to deal with our past – by God’s grace and with the help of His powerful Spirit – we share our struggles and learn together, with dependence upon one another and God’s Spirit, to live a life of victory over our past. None of us is perfect, except in the eyes of our heavenly Father who views us through His perfect Son’s robe of righteousness.
We all struggle to walk in holiness and faithfulness to our Savior, but to the degree we share openly our need for help and support, to that extent we’re able to walk, not only in nearness to our brothers/sisters, but also nearness to our Father in heaven.
Just as two very imperfect people will never unite to make a perfect marriage, so in the Body of Christ, when people who are seeking with all their heart to please God, but too often fail, join with others who are in the same boat, by some miraculous, transforming act of God, He makes us a family who can love one another, sharing our lives and working together to glorify and honor our Savior.
That’s why I love the Church, the Body of Christ, to whom every blood-bought soul belongs, and with whom every one of us can let the past be past! “Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future!”
Hallelujah! What a Savior!
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 