In Psalm 51:1-7, David expressed great guilt and sorrow over his sins in 2 Samuel 11:1-27. These feelings were necessary for David to seek God’s forgiveness.

What should a child of God do once they receive the Lord’s forgiveness? Sadly, many forgiven sinners don’t feel very forgiven. While they may want to feel renewed and free, their sinful past constantly haunts and weighs them down.

Consider four things that we need to understand if we struggle with moving beyond our pasts.

Everyone has a past.

  • Every servant of God has sinful practices on the resumes of their lives (Romans 3:23).
  • Abraham, David, Solomon, Rahab, Moses, Samson, and Peter failed the Lord numerous times.
  • The Apostle Paul tried to destroy Christianity (1 Timothy 1:12-15). He violently persecuted disciples and blasphemed the name of Jesus.

God wants us to trust in His forgiveness.

  • Instead of allowing the awful and terrible things from the past to weigh him down and define him, Paul was committed to trusting in the forgiveness of God (1 Timothy 1:14-15). He had faith that God could forgive and save even someone as bad as him!
  • Do we also believe in the promise of God’s forgiveness when we submit ourselves to Him (Acts 2:38; 22:16; 1 John 1:9; Hebrews 10:17)? We won’t live each day bringing up our past sins if we do.
  • We will trust and have confidence that God has kept His promise to wash them away, forgive them, and remember them no more!
  • When we constantly beat ourselves up over forgiven sins, we place the emphasis of our salvation in ourselves and not in God! If God says that He is done with our sins, we need to be as well.

God wants us to leave the past in the past.

  • Paul chose to leave some parts of his past in the past (Philippians 3:13). He decided to leave his high status as a Jew in the past (Philippians 3:5-6).
  • He also left the guilt of his sins in the past. While Paul mentions his past sins often to teach lessons about God’s grace, he never allows them to distract and cripple him.
  • While we all have done things we regret and are ashamed of, we are now new creatures in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). We are now saints and children of God!
  • It is Satan who wants us to live stuck in the past. He wants us to live in constant guilt and shame. He doesn’t want us to experience freedom in Jesus Christ.

God wants us to move forward with Jesus. 

  • Paul learned from his past failures and used them as rocket fuel to be better for the Lord in the future. He was not focused on the past but on gaining the prize of heaven (Philippians 3:14).
  • Instead of allowing our past sins to drag us down constantly, we need to use them as tools to become thankful, faithful, and spiritually mature.
  • We can’t ever lose sight of how bright our future is now that we are running the spiritual race with Jesus Christ.

Conclusion:

Do you need to allow God to deal with your past sins?