Living in the Past: Leaving the Chains Behind
Baggage. Regrets. Broken relationships. We all have them. We all have things in our lives we’d rather not discuss – things we wish had gone differently. We’ve all experienced hurt feelings and have hurt others just the same.
But most of us also know that living in the past is no way to live. It keeps us from moving forward.
If we were honest with ourselves, we would recognize the fact that most of our hurts and regrets have everything to do with sin. Either someone sinned against us or we sinned against someone else. Or perhaps we were just in sin’s way.
Imagine for a moment that sin is like a ticking time-bomb. Every time we sin, we light the match not knowing what sort of bomb we are setting to go off. Sometimes the bomb goes off right away, and other times it waits. And naturally, some bombs are more destructive than others. Sooner or later, our “sin bomb” will go off and someone is bound to be hit by the falling debris.
We deceive ourselves into thinking that certain sins won’t affect others, but the Bible is clear. Sin always has consequences – even if they don’t appear right away.
One of the enemy’s most deceitful tactics is to use our past against us. If he can chain us to the past, we lose the ability to move forward in our walk with God. It doesn’t matter if our baggage was our fault or the fault of someone else – either way, the enemy can and will try to use it against us. It’s important that we stand firm in our armor and that we are ready with our sword to fight back when the enemy attacks.
Ephesians 6 tells us that our sword as believers is the Word of God. With that being said, here are some amazing passages from the Bible that we can use any time the enemy tries to lie to us about our past:
This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! …For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. – 2 Corinthians 5:17, 19 (NLT)
But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. – 1 John 1:9 (NLT)
“I—yes, I alone—will blot out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again.” – Isaiah 43:25 (NLT)
So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. – Romans 8:1 (NLT)
And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. – Hebrews 10:19-22 (NLT)
There are countless passages in the Bible that talk about the forgiveness of sins for all who put their trust in Jesus. God longs to purify us and renew our hearts. We are also given hope by stories such as the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32), the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11), the woman at the well (John 4:1-30), and the woman who washed the feet of Jesus with expensive perfume (Luke 7:36-50).
Living in the past was never God’s intention for us – He desires to make us brand new in Him.
If you are a believer, you no longer have the wear the chains of past hurts and regrets. And don’t allow the enemy to tell you otherwise.
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