Free to Start Again

By Ralph Woerner

The emotional health we enjoy in the present often depends on how well we cope with our past.

Some  people  make  the  mistake of trying to live in the past; they’re forever and forever dreaming of the good old days, wishing things were like they used to be. Others make the mistake of trying to live on the past. Having been successful in a certain venture, they spend their days lingering and boasting over some bygone accomplishment.

Even worse than trying to live in the past or on the past is trying to live with the past—living with a heap of regrets. A broken marriage, a painful failure, an embarrassing mistake litter the past. Being freed from the guilt and pain of the past is what I want to talk about.

We’ve all met people who are so negative, suspicious and resentful they’re unpleasant to be around. A beautiful  sunrise  or  sunset  could fill the day, and they wouldn’t enjoy it. How did they get this way? In all probability injuries, failures, and disappointments of the past have influenced a negative disposition. To go through life with an unresolved past can be a bitter experience.

One thing we can’t do about the past is relive it. Angry words spoken can never be recalled; opportunities lost can never be reclaimed.

Some people try to escape the past by shifting the blame for what they’ve done onto someone else. This has happened ever since the first man made a mistake. Adam tried to make himself seem better than he was by shifting the blame to Eve. If Eve hadn’t tempted me, I wouldn’t have partaken of the forbidden tree! Eve is to blame! A shrewd but dishonest attempt to excuse his own behavior.

Sorry to say, Eve didn’t do any better.

She blamed the serpent. It’s human nature to blame others for what we’ve done. It makes us seem better than we really are, and makes us feel less responsible for what we’ve done.

Another way people try to handle failure and guilt of the past is by repressing it—pushing it to the back of their minds. Although this may bring temporary relief, it isn’t the solution.

If shifting blame is not the solution, if repressing the unpleasant memories of the past is not the solution, what is? The way to resolve the past is to face it squarely, confess it honestly, and receive God’s forgiveness.

God didn’t stop loving us when we did wrong. His overwhelming love for us is what caused Him to give Christ to die. “God commended His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”1 If God loves us enough to give His Son, surely He will be eager to forgive our past.

The two things God requires before forgiveness can be obtained are the confessing and forsaking of our sins. “Whosoever confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.”2 God’s willingness to forgive is contingent on our willingness to confess and forsake.

Once we are ready to do our part—to confess and forsake our sin—there will be no reluctance on God’s part to do His—to forgive. How can we be so sure of this? Because we have His word for it. God didn’t have to promise us anything. Since He promised it, however, He has no choice but to do what He said or go back on his word. And that is one thing He will never do.

Here is where faith comes in. Faith is trusting God to do what He said for no other reason than He said it. God said if we would confess our sins, He would be faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, that if our sins were as red as scarlet He would make them as white as snow.3 This may sound too good to be true, but that’s what God promises, and that’s what He will do.

It’s not necessary to be burdened down with the past or to carry a load of guilt through life. Bring those past failures to Christ. Confess and forsake them, and He will cast your sins behind His back. He will remove them as far as the East is from the West. He will erase them so completely He will remember them no more.4

We can’t go back and relive or undo the past; we can receive the forgiveness of God, however. And what God forgives, He forgets. That’s the good news of the Gospel.

This is not simply a bit of wishful thinking. Millions can testify of experiencing God’s forgiveness. In Christ you can be free from the guilt and tyranny of the past! What God chooses to remember no more, I can leave in the past, setting me free to enjoy the present.

BIBLICAL REFERENCES:

1) Romans 5:8.
2) Proverbs 28:13b.
3) 1 John 1:9, Isaiah 1:18.
4) Isaiah 38:17, Isaiah 44:22, Psalm 103:22, Jeremiah 31:34.

Ralph Woerner is a retired pastor and writer living in Birmingham, Alabama.

© 2005 by Promise Network. Used by permission. All rights reserved.