Leave the past behind

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! (2 Cor 5:17)

I didn’t grow up in Christian home. When I first talked to my family about my new faith, my brother asked me what it meant to be ‘born again’. I don’t think I explained it very well, telling him something vague about coming to a new understanding of God and his relationship with me. I think for many Christians, being born again is a phrase we throw around without really understanding what it means in our daily walk.

Paul explains to the growing church in Corinth that each person who invites Jesus Christ into their life has become a new person. The life they were living has ended, and they have been born again into a completely new existence. Through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we are transformed. Through this rebirth in Christ, our past lives are left behind. None of their past sins will be brought up again, for they have done what is just and right, and they will surely live. (Eze 33:16)

We all have regrets over things we have done in our past. In Genesis 19:26, Lot’s wife was destroyed when she looked back as she fled the sin of Sodom. Early in my walk with Christ, He told me that I cannot change my past, but I can change my future. Our personal history does not disappear when we are reborn in Christ, but it does lose its grip on our lives. But if wicked people turn away from all their sins and begin to obey my decrees and do what is just and right, they will surely live and not die. All their past sins will be forgotten, and they will live because of the righteous things they have done. (Eze 18:21-22)

Remember the things I have done in the past. For I alone am God! I am God, and there is none like me (Isa 46:9). The only past we are called to remember are the blessings we have received from God. We have been redeemed by His grace, and can move forward in His kingdom without being weighed down by the baggage of our old life. God keeps such people so busy enjoying life that they take no time to brood over the past (Ecc 5:20).

I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead (Phil 3:12-13).

What do you need to leave behind in order to move forward?

Leave the past behind

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! (2 Cor 5:17)

I didn’t grow up in Christian home. When I first talked to my family about my new faith, my brother asked me what it meant to be ‘born again’. I don’t think I explained it very well, telling him something vague about coming to a new understanding of God and his relationship with me. I think for many Christians, being born again is a phrase we throw around without really understanding what it means in our daily walk.

Paul explains to the growing church in Corinth that each person who invites Jesus Christ into their life has become a new person. The life they were living has ended, and they have been born again into a completely new existence. Through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we are transformed. Through this rebirth in Christ, our past lives are left behind. None of their past sins will be brought up again, for they have done what is just and right, and they will surely live. (Eze 33:16)

We all have regrets over things we have done in our past. In Genesis 19:26, Lot’s wife was destroyed when she looked back as she fled the sin of Sodom. Early in my walk with Christ, He told me that I cannot change my past, but I can change my future. Our personal history does not disappear when we are reborn in Christ, but it does lose its grip on our lives. But if wicked people turn away from all their sins and begin to obey my decrees and do what is just and right, they will surely live and not die. All their past sins will be forgotten, and they will live because of the righteous things they have done. (Eze 18:21-22)

Remember the things I have done in the past. For I alone am God! I am God, and there is none like me (Isa 46:9). The only past we are called to remember are the blessings we have received from God. We have been redeemed by His grace, and can move forward in His kingdom without being weighed down by the baggage of our old life. God keeps such people so busy enjoying life that they take no time to brood over the past (Ecc 5:20).

I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead (Phil 3:12-13).

What do you need to leave behind in order to move forward?

Leave the past behind

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! (2 Cor 5:17)

I didn’t grow up in Christian home. When I first talked to my family about my new faith, my brother asked me what it meant to be ‘born again’. I don’t think I explained it very well, telling him something vague about coming to a new understanding of God and his relationship with me. I think for many Christians, being born again is a phrase we throw around without really understanding what it means in our daily walk.

Paul explains to the growing church in Corinth that each person who invites Jesus Christ into their life has become a new person. The life they were living has ended, and they have been born again into a completely new existence. Through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we are transformed. Through this rebirth in Christ, our past lives are left behind. None of their past sins will be brought up again, for they have done what is just and right, and they will surely live. (Eze 33:16)

We all have regrets over things we have done in our past. In Genesis 19:26, Lot’s wife was destroyed when she looked back as she fled the sin of Sodom. Early in my walk with Christ, He told me that I cannot change my past, but I can change my future. Our personal history does not disappear when we are reborn in Christ, but it does lose its grip on our lives. But if wicked people turn away from all their sins and begin to obey my decrees and do what is just and right, they will surely live and not die. All their past sins will be forgotten, and they will live because of the righteous things they have done. (Eze 18:21-22)

Remember the things I have done in the past. For I alone am God! I am God, and there is none like me (Isa 46:9). The only past we are called to remember are the blessings we have received from God. We have been redeemed by His grace, and can move forward in His kingdom without being weighed down by the baggage of our old life. God keeps such people so busy enjoying life that they take no time to brood over the past (Ecc 5:20).

I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead (Phil 3:12-13).

What do you need to leave behind in order to move forward?