Romans 8:38-39 "38For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Reading this passage, we see that it is nearly impossible for us to be separated from the love of God. God's love is pervasive, however not everyone desires it and therefore some choose not to accept it. I want you to read this passage carefully, especially the highlighted section. The Apostle Paul speaks of MANY things that are unable to separate us and two of these references are related to time. Notice, Paul says things PRESENT nor FUTURE (i.e. things to come). With respect to time, it seems like something is missing. I'm sure that you've figured it out by now. Paul says absolutely nothing about the past!
Is that not good news that of all the things that could TRY to separate us from God's love, our past is not one of them? I almost shouted this morning as I read this. Paul wrote this letter to believers and the one thing for ALL believers to come to the knowledge of is this: Once God has forgiven your sins, they are buried!
Isaiah 43:25 "I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, And I will not remember your sins." This passage of scripture says very clearly that God wipes out transgressions- not because of us but because of Himself! Psalm 103:12 says "As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us." Theoretically, if you continue east and were able to walk off the earth, you could literally walk east for infinity and never come into contact with the west!
How is it that the past is the past and bygones are bygones? Because God's love for us is not performance based. God's love for us comes out of His grace and His benevolence. We cannot work for God's love nor can we make Him love us anymore than He already does. God is love and His love was demonstrated in Christ Jesus. Christ is the reason that your past is buried. Christ's death on the cross was the atoning sacrifice for our sins. When you made the decision to follow Him, your past immediately became obsolete and your sins were immediately forgiven because of His shed blood. Christ's righteousness has become your own righteousness and your past no longer factors into your present or future. That's why Paul could exclude the past from this passage- because to God, it doesn't matter.
What is our responsibility? Repentance. Repentance is us telling God that we have divorced the past and we are committed to living out the present and the future for Him! Repentance or "metanoia" (Greek) literally means "change of mind". Repentance represents a shift in thinking which subsequently leads to a shift in lifestyle. The renewing of the mind is an awesome transformation. When the mind is renewed, the walk will be renewed, the talk will be renewed and the light of Christ will shine through us. Paul says in Ephesians 4:23 that we are to be renewed in the "spirit of our minds". What this means is this, the very thing that gives our mind its energy must be changed. This is not something that we do consciously. Rather, it is carried out by the Holy Spirit as we undergo the transformation that results from being born again. The tense of the verb "renewed" is in the infinitive which indicates that this is not a one time renewal but a constant renewal. Repentance is a way of life for the believer and results from being able to recognize sin as sin thereby turning away from it. A renewed mind allows us to see sin for what it is.
The only person concerned about our pasts is Satan. The devil uses the past to guilt trip us into believing that we are not good enough for God. A true believer understands that even with a sterling past, we will never be "good enough" for God without Christ. Whenever Satan tries to throw your past in your face, remember this scripture and the fact that our past is not even factored into God's love for the believer.
God bless!
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