God, help me to release the weight of my past;
I am a new creation because of Your Grace!
Help me to trust that Your word is true, Your Grace is enough.
Nothing I can do will make me clean; only the blood of Jesus can cleanse me!
Series Focus: “Resurrecting Hope in the Midst of Life’s Storms”
“The past is the past.” “What’s done is done.” “Don’t look back.” Have you been told this? Maybe you’ve been encouraged to “just forget” what used to be? Do you remember those choices we made that weren’t so honorable? Do you relive the moments of crushing pain or helpless thoughts? The times our sin won? Looking in the mirror becomes a painful reminder of the person who exists but longs to change.
It’s been a long while since I’ve spent time in the pit I once built. The little space I called my own. My secret world filled with tears, doubts, and selfish ambitions. The walls I decorated with hurt feelings, lost dreams and scattered hopes. The place you wouldn’t have been invited into, but would have been affected by, if you came too close.
Life before Jesus.
It wasn’t pretty. But, it was easier to stay in the pit and try to survive than live a life I didn’t think I deserved. It was so easy to make fun of those Bible-reading, Jesus-loving women than to consider what it would be like to become one. But still there was something about them. They called it “Freedom in Christ.” The place where the grace of God is enough. They had it – and I wanted it. I had to learn how to receive it. So it began…
Placing my Hope in Jesus seemed impossible. I thought it was up to me to “fix” myself before He would love me, want me, choose me – well you get the picture. How could I benefit from this Grace when my whole life pointed to all the wrong things? The lies I’d told, the unforgiveness I’d held in my heart, and the decisions I had made that went against what Jesus taught. I mean, I knew if I went before the Lord – He would have thrown the book at me and I would have deserved it! But, that’s not what happened. Because He is full of Grace.
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))
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)
What a beautiful truth to cling to. I could be a new creation, forgiven and loved. God had good works for me to walk in. I wanted to. I just had this one hang up. I didn’t really know Him well enough to trust Him. I had to understand my past to move into my future. My past sin was not going to hold me back from this new life outside my pit. I was ready. Are you ready?
I hooked up with those Bible-loving ladies and I read His Word. Over and over until I could feel His presence. And then in the quietness of my pit I confessed. I told Him all the stories, all the moments I fell short and just as His Word promised – He brought peace and rest to me. I turned away from those things that kept me separated from Him. I finally knew what joy and freedom felt like.
Don’t let your past sins have a relentless grip on you. Refuse to keep revisiting all you’ve done wrong in hopes you figure your way out. It doesn’t work that way. God doesn’t want you to “work your way” out. He wants your heart. A heart that is fully surrendered to Him. Our sin tells God to get out; our confession asks God to come in! Of all the things we have to earn in this lifetime, God’s love isn’t one of those things. His Grace is enough. He invites us into a resurrecting hope of freedom in HIM.
The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. (Romans 3:22-26)
Holding Fast to Hope,
Jen
Scripture References: 2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 2:10; Romans 3:22-26; John 3:16; John 10:10