Yesterday I shared one of the things I have been learning (especially lately): that I need to let go of my past. We are free to let it go, and should do the work to let it go, because God has let it go. Our position before God and the love He has for us is not diminished by our failures, threatened by our brokenness, or increased by our successes. God’s love for us is not based in who we are or in what we have done, but in Christ and who He is and what He has done. It is all grace! We cannot change who He is or what He did, so we cannot do anything to change His love for us. When we hold on to our past and refuse to let it go, we are more and more unable to focus on what we need to be doing today, and can lose sight of where God is taking us. We need to realize the freedom we have in Christ and let go of our past, both bad past and good past.
We need to let go of our bad past. For some of us, we need to let go of the bad things that we have done. I know there are some reading this who struggle with regret and guilt. Failures, poor decisions, and times you stood by and did nothing when you knew you needed to act. Others of you struggle with a past of pain that others inflicted on you: abuse, betrayal, being laid off or fired, illness, the loss of a loved one, or even worse…
Now listen to me (and I am saying this just as much to myself), God wants you to know that it is OK to grieve your hurts. It is healthy to have remorse for our sins. There is no prescribed timetable for getting over a tragedy, hurt, or loss. I believe whoever said “time heals all wounds” was an idiot! I still have pangs of regret, and feel the wounds I have received for hurts long since gone by. But by the grace of God, you can have the poison of those times taken from your wounds!
God’s grace has already cleansed you from your guilt. You are free to let go! God has promised to bind your wounds and heal them; there is no wound so deep He cannot heal. No anger He cannot drain. We need to take a walk to the cross where we see it all nailed where Jesus was.
Your guilt was paid for at the cross. You can let it go.
Your anger was answered by God at the cross, His justice acted on your behalf there. You can let it go.
Were you abandoned? So was Jesus. Were you abused? So was He. Have you been betrayed? So was He. Have you felt confined? So has He.
Jesus wants you to stop beating yourself up about the past. He wants you to stop fretting over what happened, what didn’t happen, what should have happened, and what could have happened. He wants you to let it all go so you can hold onto Him. So you can see that His arms are still holding you tight—even now. Let go, so you can hold on to Him.
We need to let go of our good past. Does that surprise you? It is just as important to let go of our good past as it is to let go of our bad past. When we start to place our confidence in what we have done, we put ourselves in the place where we start depending on Christ less.
Paul was in this position. He thought that obeying the Law and doing good works was the basis for God’s approval of him. He achieved a level of success in that regard that few people have. But when he met Christ he realized how wrong he had been.
I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ (Philippians 3:7-8, NLT).
Jesus said in John 15:5 (NIV) I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. You can do a lot of things by yourself,
but you can’t do anything for God by yourself. Our successes need to be growing our faith in God’s grace, not in increasing our own pride. We need to let go of our successes, our achievements, our victories, because they were never ours in the first place. They are His.
Let go of your bad past. God has cleared you of your guilt. It is gone. It no longer exists. Your slate has been wiped clean. You are free.
Let go of your good past and avoid the trap of pride in your own accomplishments. God’s grace is sufficient for you. You do not need to earn your place. It was given to you by grace. You are free to forget the past and look forward to what lies ahead, so that you can press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God through Christ Jesus is calling us.
Learning To Be Full Of Grace And Truth. 