How Can I Escape The Mistakes Of My Past?
We all have regrets… if we could do some things over again… we would. I know that personally I have said things and did things that I shouldn’t have when I was younger… and truthfully I still do. The unfortunate reality is that these mistakes often end up coming back to haunt us. Maybe you made fun of someone when you were younger, only to find out later that they would be your boss. Or maybe you partied hard in college, and later had to deal with the consequences of that when pursuing marriage and other relationships. Whatever the case, our past can be a difficult thing to overcome. Instead of feeling free to move forward, we have baggage weighing us down that keeps us from enjoying life to the fullest.
For a follower of Christ, regret can be one of the biggest hindrances for growing in a relationship with him. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!” This is great news! But the problem is not reading what it says… it is believing it. It can be so difficult to keep that mentality. Satan likes to bring up the fact that we fell short, and still do. When we believe him, we often end up falling back into our sin again. So how do we escape?
The answer is not simple… but I think the key is to keep the main thing the main thing, and the main thing is the gospel. Jesus said, “A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.” Satan will seek to distract and lead astray, but Jesus came to give us a clean slate. When Jesus comes into our life, we are made into a new creation. What we have done is behind us. Sure, we may still face consequences for those things, but in God’s eyes we have been made clean. We have been made right with God because of the atoning blood of Christ. Because of this, we don’t have to live with regret. You don’t have to live in the past, but can focus on the present and future. You can let God work in you to mould you into the kind of person he created you to be.
My encouragement for you today is simple. Don’t live in the past! Don’t let your past haunt you! The weight of regret no longer has to have a hold on you because of what Christ did on the cross. God’s grace in sending Jesus is far greater than your circumstances or your past. All you have to do is take hold of that, believe in that promise, and trust God to help you to overcome. You cant change the things you have done, and it only distracts and discourages you to focus on them. Instead, learn from your mistakes and trust in God’s promises. Then you will be free to live life to the fullest without the weight of the past slowing you down.
If you are interested in a reading a book on this, I highly recommend Redemption: Freed by Jesus from the Idols We Worship and the Wounds We Carry by Mike Wilkerson. I read this a few years ago and it is one of the most impactful books of my faith journey thus far. Read it!
