“I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins.“ Isaiah 43:25
I have often mentioned memories of my Momma and the many life lessons I learned from her. As I grew older and learned more about the challenges of growing up dirt-poor on a struggling Kansas farm, I realized that my mom’s formative years were not easy. Her life was not the hide-and-seek-in-the-cornfield and chase-the-cows-into-the-barn fun-filled playground I had imagined.
Later in her life, Momma sparingly shared more glimpses of her life growing up with a cruelly abusive father and a mistreated, embittered-by-life mother. Much to my sorrow, I learned that the old farmhouse held the darkest sort of secrets that I could have ever imagined.
When Momma accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior in her early teens, she decided to surrender the anger, hurt, and betrayal to her heavenly Father, the One who would never hurt or betray her. In doing that, Momma moved past her past so she could move forward to follow God and live the life He intended for her.
Momma was a remarkable woman, not perfect, but still remarkable. God did not erase the scars of her childhood, but He gave her the strength and grace to forgive the one who had wounded her so shamefully and inexcusably.
To forgive does not mean to forget. To forgive does not mean that you allow yourself to be repeatedly wounded physically, mentally, or emotionally.
Forgiveness cuts the cord that ties you to your past; it enables you to move past the past.
I’ve known people who are held captive by their past. There is no moving forward for those unable or unwilling to turn loose of the anger, resentment, hurt, pain, and the spirit of unforgiveness. They drag their past with them wherever they go. Every conversation eventually turns to the hurts and pains they have experienced. The past taints every decision made, every action taken, and every relationship established. The past stunts spiritual growth while stealing joy and peace.
In Colossians Chapter Three, Paul tells the church to put away – get rid of – and stop living like an unbeliever filled with anger, wrath, malice, slander, and lies. He says that as a new creation in Jesus Christ, they should be filled instead with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. He then reminds the Christians to forgive one another even as God had forgiven them.
Paul did not qualify the wrong that was to be forgiven. He did not say to forgive if it was a minor infraction, a mistake, or an accident. He said to forgive as God had forgiven them.
“Forgive as the LORD forgave you.”
Colossians 3:13b NIV
Forgiveness is the first step in moving past your past.
Sometimes, what is holding you back isn’t a past filled with wounds caused by others. It is the guilt you carry because of the pain you have caused someone else. You’ve asked and attempted to reconcile with the person you have wronged; maybe you’ve received forgiveness from the one you injured, but still, you cannot forgive yourself.
Friend, your guilt will become a festering wound that will cripple you if left untreated.
Guilt is a shackle that will hold you prisoner to your past.
If we confess our sins, He [God] is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9 ESV
If you cannot forgive yourself for something in your past, read the verse above out loud. Then, read it again, this time a little bit louder.
Then ask yourself these questions:
- Have I gone to the person I wronged and asked for forgiveness? Have I attempted to make restitution if that is what the situation requires?
- Have I confessed what I did to God and asked for His forgiveness?
- Do I believe that God cannot lie? Do I believe that when God says He will forgive, He will?
If you answer “yes” to these questions, there’s one final question to ask:
- I believe God has forgiven me. What right do I have to refuse to forgive myself?
The prophet Isaiah wrote these Holy Spirit-filled words of prophecy to God’s chosen people:
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”
Isaiah 43:18-10
God says, “Don’t live in the past. Don’t let the past hold you back from participating in the new life I have planned for you.”
The Apostle Paul stresses a similar idea in Philippians. Paul is saying to put the past behind you so that you can focus on what God is doing in your life. You cannot run a race well if you are constantly looking backward.
“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own. …forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 3:12-14 ESV
My mom moved past her past. It did not define her. She enjoyed a God-honoring life filled with laughter, love, joy, peace, and contentment.
Another Momma Lesson.