Weekly Devotional

We all know how hard it can be to put past sins behind us. Yet, dwelling on them will hamper our spiritual growth and intimacy with the Lord. After we confess our sins, He remembers them no more. “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.”(Ps 103:12) If Holy God is willing to forgive us, then we must also forgive ourselves.

Whenever we doubt our forgiveness we tend to experience feelings of guilt, resentment, anxiety and fear. “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”(2 Tim 1:7) Constantly focusing on past sin doesn’t allow us to have a stable relationship with the Lord or anyone else in our life. We also must be careful not to glorify past sins by seeking to experience the feelings we had at that time. Instead, we need to make a commitment to think on things that are scripturally sound and in keeping with the word of God and His will for our life. “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.” (Col 3:1)

When two angels of the Lord came to escort Lot and his family from Sodom before its destruction; Lots’s wife did not heed God’s warning “not to look back”. Instead she turned to look, maybe longing for her past home and earthly possessions, as fire fell on the city. As a result of her disobedience, she was instantly turned into a pillar of salt. “Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. (Gen 19: 24-26) What happened to Lot's wife provides an excellent example and the reason why our focus must remain on God, His plan for us and His eternal purpose. Otherwise we become drawn to things that are detrimental in keeping us out of the will of God.

Lord, help me to understand that I can't go back and change the past. You have made it possible for me to live in the present and look forward to my future with You. By Your wisdom bless me to continue to mature as I apply Your word to my daily life. “For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.”(Col 1:9)