Guilt of The Past

Many times one is confronted with past mistakes that haunt them. Some it may be something that they did to someone else that caused harm to the other person. Others it is something they did that had effect on their life that today when they think about it they just can’t reconcile it to who they are. Some it maybe parenting mistakes they did while their children were dependent on them. Obviously to be at this position connotes that someone has changed and is no longer doing the same things.  

So what do you do to overcome these feelings of guilt? The first thing to do us to is to go back to the time that you did the mistake. Ask yourself whether at the time you did what you did you thought of it as wrong. Before our eyes are opened to sin, we live according to the standards of the world which is different from God’s standard. And even when we have come to know God, we change as we grow and what we hold as true today my not hold as true tomorrow.  If you are to judge yourself do so based on what you knew then or where you were in your walk of faith and not on what you know today. You did what you knew then but when you knew better you changed and you are not that person now.

This is what growing up means. We are being formed each day, every minute into the person we were meant to be. There are bumps on the way and as long as you learn the lessons on the way you will be fine. The problem comes when you refuse to change once you know the truth.  Jesus calls on us to seek the truth and when we find it to abide in it “and the truth shall set you free”. John 8:31. Sin or wrong doing has a away of enslaving, controlling or dominating us and that is perhaps why we feel bad when we recognize the difference. Jesus said that if He has set you free “you shall be free indeed” (John 8:36). Jesus finishes the work and you find you are not compelled to do the same things again.

So to proceed forward you must forgive yourself and in the process you will have the courage or ability to forgive others. If you find it hard to forgive yourself then you will find it hard to forgive others because you can only give to others what is in you. God says that He breaks the “bands of your yoke and made you walk upright” Leviticus 26:13. You no longer need to be bogged down in shame over your past mistakes or sins. God has forgiven you and forgotten your mistakes once you confess and repent of them. You can therefore walk in dignity. The Lord ask us to, “come now let us reason together, —though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are like crimson they shall be as wool” Isaiah1: 18.

From now on, hand over your guilt and regrets to God and He will set you free. You do not need to carry a burden that you have been released of. Whenever you feel bogged down by your past, know who it is mocking you, the devil. Speak the word to him because the word, who is Christ, has set you free for “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus” Romans 8:1. You are free from your past and Christ has given you the power through the Holy Spirit to do His will.  Do not let evil overcome you but overcome evil with good. Make it your Purpose to do something good whenever you feel bogged down with guilt or regret.  You cannot change the past but you can make good of the future.