In your past, you may have some things in your past you really regret. You may have some things in your past you're really proud of. You may have some things in your family of origin that have made it really easy for you to succeed. You may have some things in your family of origin that have made it really difficult for you to get ahead. You may have a strong spiritual legacy to build off of, or you may be starting from nothing, spiritually speaking, in your life. Probably it's a mixture of all of this though, right? But when your attention is fully on Jesus, when his gospel has transformed you, when Christ is leading you to be a blessing to others, when you have eyes to see the world like Jesus sees it, your past does not define you.
Jesus has washed your past clean; he has taken it away and given you a new foundation to build on. When you accept Jesus as your savior, God no longer sees your sins or your past when he looks at you because of the sacrifice of his beloved Son on the cross. This means you are no longer tied to the guilt that sin wants to keep you bound to, and you are free to live without any shame over the past. God wants to use you in extraordinary ways, and you won't be able to fully embrace where he is calling you to go without letting go of the past. Your past doesn't define you. Jesus defines you when your attention is fully on him!
Reflection/Discussion Question: What in your past have you let define you instead of letting Jesus define you?
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Jeff Burgess