In God’s Eyes, Yours Past No Longer Exists
In God’s Eyes, Yours Past No Longer Exists
Romans 8:38,39 (NKJV)
38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:38,39 is probably one of the best-known scriptures to believers. It basically is saying that once we give our hearts to Jesus, absolutely nothing can separate us from the love of God.
The comfort it brings, especially in challenging times, cannot be overstated. Yet, as a well-known minister of the gospel recently shared, for as all-encompassing as these scriptures are, there is one area that is missing. Note at the end of verse thirty-eight it says, “nor things present nor things to come.” There is one time-period missing – the past.
Why is the past not mentioned in this scripture? Because from God’s perspective a believer has no past. The moment we made Jesus the Savior and Lord of our lives we became a brand-new creature (2 Corinthians 5:17). He has promised not to remember our sins (Hebrews 8:12) because He wants them gone from affecting our lives. He knows that as long as we think He is thinking about our past mistakes, it will hinder us from experiencing intimacy with Him in fellowship. Therefore, God took away the number one thing that can come between Him and His beloved children – condemnation.
Indeed, for many Christians their past does separate them from the love of God. Visually, think of a person who has a laundry bag filled with rocks hanging over his shoulder. Everywhere he goes he carries the bag with him. After a time, that bag begins to feel heavier and heavier. As he continues to be under the weight of the bag (his past), his stride is shortened, his journey slowed. The weight of the past can totally rob a person of the victorious, abundant life Jesus died to give him.
When we choose (and it is a choice) to hang onto our past, we are putting ourselves above God (never a good place to be.) We might think that we are humbling ourselves when we look at our past and feel bad about it. But, in fact we are doing just the opposite. We are saying that what God has forgiven and forgotten, we will not. Humbling ourselves actually comes as we say what God says about us; when we identify with what the Word says about us. For us to say that we can’t get beyond our past, is to say the BLOOD shed at the CROSS was not enough.
2 Timothy 3:16 (English Standard Version) says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,”. So, leaving out our “past” in verse 39 was not simply an oversight. God left out our past in this verse to help “train us in righteousness”; by reinforcing the truth that we are the “righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.” Our “right-standing” with God is not diminished by our past, because it no longer exists.
If you are carrying a laundry bag filled with regrets, poor choices, guilt, and shame, it’s time to get rid of its contents. Then refill the bag with all the things God says about you in His Word. That bag will leave you light on your feet!! 