A challenge many Christians struggle with is dealing with past sins.
We must recognize the severity of our sins (cf. Luke 18:13), have godly sorrow (2 Cor. 7:10), and do what God requires for sins we have committed to be forgiven. Once we have done what God requires to be 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. Remembering sins we have committed should help us show compassion toward individuals who struggle with things we once did. Furthermore, 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 provides answers to.
Apart from Jesus, every person who has reached a point of accountability before God has sinned (Rom. 3:23).
Saul of Tarsus, for instance, was guilty of persecuting Christians (Acts 9:1-2).
He later became a faithful apostle, and was inspired to write about half of the New Testament. Though his past caused Paul to view himself as the “chief” of sinners (1 Tim. 1:15), he was useful to God because he changed.
In 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, the Holy Spirit through Paul warned about those who will not inherit God’s kingdom. 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 a sin to be forgiven, why dwell on the harm it caused? We do not want to take lightly any thoughts of future sin or present sin, but past sin that has been forgiven should not torment us.
The church that Jesus built is composed not of individuals who have never sinned, but of individuals who know they have sinned and therefore need a Savior to escape eternal punishment.
He is the “great physician” who will spiritually heal any who will submit to His teachings (Luke 5:32).
“God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began” to give eternal life (Titus 1:2) to those who come to Him on His terms. If we reject this out of worry we have done too horribly to be forgiven, we deny the gift Jesus gave His life for.
We cannot change the past. But we can resolve to obey God moving forward.
Won’t we all make that choice and proclaim with Paul “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief” (1 Timothy 1:15).
Won’t we forget “those things which are behind”, and reach forth to “those things which are before”, pressing “toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14).
– Michael Hickox