Your Past Matt. 26:6 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO

Your past is part of who you are.  It may not be pretty and you don’t need to go around defiling others with what you have done.  But your past is just that, it is YOUR past.  We are reminded in the Bible about the pasts of a number of people.  And by the time we are reminded you might think their past didn’t matter.  Think of people like Simon the Leper, Matt 26:6; Mary Magdalene, out of whom Jesus had cast seven devils, Lk 8:2, Mk 16:9; Bathsheba, that had been the wife of Urias, Matt 1:6; and Rahab the harlot, Heb 11:31; Jas 2:25.

What can you learn about your attitude toward your past from these and others like them?  You learn that:

You are in the present not in the past.  None of these folks were held by their past.  None of these folks fretted about their pasts; they went on with their lives.

You are where you are in spite of where you were.  Simon, who was healed of his leprosy, an incurable disease, certainly had a greater appreciation for Jesus and for his health than if he hadn’t been a leper.  Mary Magdalene certainly loved Jesus more than someone who had never been possessed with the devil.  Bathsheba and Rahab must have been extremely grateful for the mercy and forbearance of God.

You are an illustration of the law of God.  Most of the trouble in our pasts is the result of violating the law of God.  And when others see the mess of our past they realize, because of us, that living life God’s way is better than living it our way.  The best testimony, therefore, is the testimony of a clean life because you never have to be reminded of the great sins of your past.

You are proof of the grace of God.  In other words, others who hear what the Lord has done in your life are encouraged that God can do great things in their life.  And it doesn’t make any difference what it is that they have done.  God’s grace is sufficient.

You are a testimony to the glory of God.  In other words, when we consider the change in the lives of these folks, we don’t deliberate on the depths of their sin, we marvel at the greatness of our God.  That God could and would do what he did for them tells us that we have a great God who can and will do great things for us.  We are not impressed with the malignity of our sin but with the magnitude of our Saviour.

Conclusion: When you consider your past, don’t wallow in the regrets of what you were but relish in the joy of what you have become in the Lord.  And when you are given the opportunity to testify, don’t magnify sin, glorify the Saviour.