What about my past?

You have a past, and some of it is not very pretty. So where does that leave you with God? In the same place you were before you had a past.

John 3:16 says that God gave his only Son for us in an amazing act of love. Before you created your past, God put his love in action in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Before you ever made a bad choice, thought a selfish thought, said a hurtful word, God had already chosen to love you and make provision for the past you would create.

We all have pasts we wish we could change. But today, no matter what is in your past, you can rest in the fact that God is patient, gracious, gentle, and forgiving. Jesus died to forgive your past and give you a better future. Bring your failures to him and trust that you can leave them with him. With his help, you can write a different story. And when you fail, be assured that he will offer you more grace to keep moving ahead.

The apostle Paul had a past. He was a vicious enemy of first-century Christians, and even participated in the murder of some. He had a serious past. Yet God reached out to him, forgave him, and used him to write half of the books contained in the New Testament. Paul put it this way in Romans 5:8: “But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.”

Remember, God already knows your “future past,” and today he chooses to love you.