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 – people like Simon the Leper – Matt 26:6 – Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils – Lk 8:2, Mk 16:9 – Bathsheba – that had been the wife of Urias – Matt 1:6 – 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.