A challenge many struggle with is dealing with past sins.
We must recognize the severity of our sins (Luke 18:13), and have godly sorrow that produces repentance (2 Cor. 7:10). Once we have done what God requires to have sin forgiven though, that sin becomes a part of our past and should be viewed accordingly.
Remembering past sins in ways God desires is important.
Just as Paul was humbled by his past sins (1 Cor. 15:9), we too should realize we are nothing without God’s grace.
Moreover, the saying “experience is the best teacher” can apply to sins we have committed, helping us not only to teach ourselves, but to warn others.
Remembering sins of the past in ways that haunt us, though, can be destructive.
Doing so can lead an individual to be hesitant to do the work of the Lord, out of fear he or she is not “good enough.” It can cause one to be hesitant to speak out against sins, for fear he or she will be a hypocrite. It can “beat one up” internally as the joy, hope, and peace that should exist in the mindset of Christians is replaced with sorrow and anxiety. This is a problem, but it is one God’s Word gives answers to.
In 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, the Holy Spirit through Paul warned the church at Corinth about those who will not inherit the kingdom of God. In verse 11, He said “such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”
Christianity is not about who we were, but who we are. If we have done what God requires for sin to be forgiven, we should joyfully accept that forgiveness. We must not take lightly any thoughts of future or present sin, but past sin that has been forgiven should not torment us.
The church that Jesus built is not composed of individuals who have never sinned, but of individuals who know they have sinned and have thus come running to the Savior. Jesus is the “great physician” who will spiritually heal any who will submit to His teachings.
We cannot change the past. But we can obey God moving forward.
Won’t we all make that choice and thus be able to move on from past sins, reaching forth to “those things which are before,” and pressing “toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:13-14).
– Michael Hickox