FORGET YOUR FAILURES!

Wednesday 30 April

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. Isaiah 43:18-19 (NIV)

For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more. Hebrews 8:12 (NIV)

In the book of Hebrews we see what many regard as the faith chapter. The difference between our faith and the faith of the elders, is one was incomplete and the other was completed by Jesus Christ. The faith of the Old Testament saints was the ‘substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen’. For example when they sacrificed an animal their hope was in the coming Messiah and that lamb was the representation of the substance of what they were hoping for and the evidence of what they did not currently see.

Our faith is actually not ours per se. The Bible says in the properly rendered version, ‘looking to Jesus the author and the finisher of faith.’ Not our faith, His faith. This is why we are told ‘the life I now live in the body, I live by the faith of the Son of God’. He completed faith to be saved for the believer.

Now that we have established this fact, let’s jump back to Hebrews 11. There is something striking about the accounts of prophets such as Abraham and David that differ from their accounts in the Old Testament. Simply put, there were mistakes that both Abraham David and others made that were recorded in previous scriptures that were never mentioned in the book of Hebrews.

Why? Because only the acts of their faith and all the good things they did that were the result of that faith, were recorded in the New Testament. This gives us a glimpse into what it will be like when the account for our lives is talked about in the heavenlies. If you are a child of God There will only be good things said about you in the ages to come. In Psalm 87:3 David says of us Zionites ‘glorious things are spoken of you’ Aren’t you glad about that? I know I sure am!

Please hear me. Nothing that constitutes failures of the past will ever be discussed because they no longer exist! Hebrews 8:12b reinforces this thought ‘For I will remember their sins no more.’

There is actually a pattern to Godly forgetfulness in this whole verse. Look at the steps. ‘I will forgive their wickedness and remember their sins no more’. A lot of times people struggle with forgiving others or themselves which can hinder the process of Godly forgetfulness of what we are choosing to remember. This attitude is not useful.

He even says that He chooses to cast our sins into the depths of the sea in Micah 7:19

‘He will again have compassion on us; He will subdue and tread underfoot our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.’

This has been fully realised in Christ. When we hold the unforgiveness of ourselves above the forgiveness of God, we are actually in idolatry. We should not regard our opinion above God’s opinion.

As far as God is concerned when we are born of the Spirit we are JUSTIFIED. A helpful way to understand this is the phrase ‘just as if I’d never sinned’. This is the truth that transcends any fact about what you have done. Here’s a good working definition for truth. The truth is a fact that has already happened. Selah.

Your memory is in the realm of the mind within your soul that is ‘being renewed day by day’ through the Word. Listen closely. Every memory of your past, your old life or any mistakes you have made or will make in the future are already gone. It may not feel like it but it’s true. Your past in reality only exists in your present memories.

2 Corinthians 5:17 says, ‘Therefore if any man is in Christ He is a new creature, old things are passed away, see all things have become new’

Did you catch it? Your old life is gone, the new life has come.

Some people hang on to their past failures as trophies to be taken off the shelf and reminisced about every once in a while.

Isaiah 43:18a says it best ‘Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.’

Give yourself permission to agree with God about the non-existence of your past with all its failures and shortcomings and move forward with confidence knowing that you are declared righteous and have now become the righteousness of God in Christ.

APPLICATION

Train yourself to recognise that in Christ you are in the present, without a past and are looking ahead to your ever glorious future.