When Jesus died on the cross, He took all of our sin — past, present, and future — and nailed it to the cross along with Himself. It’s on us to accept the fact that He paid our debt in full, and then move forward in the freedom that can only come from living in God’s forgiveness.

Jesus didn’t die for our sins so we could continue to live captive to them — He died to set us free, once and for all. We have the opportunity to walk out of the prison of sin and live in the liberty that He’s given us. And when we’re truly experiencing the freedom that He offers us, we’re able to help other people experience that freedom, too.

The Bible is filled with examples of people who have made mistakes, big and small — but those mistakes aren’t what ultimately defined them. God loves using imperfect people perfectly, so He can restore them, transform their lives, and use them to change the world. When we choose to follow Jesus, we also need to choose to leave our past behind us and fight forward towards spiritual victory.

You may have endured unspeakable hardships, or done unspeakable things, that make you believe you can’t experience joy in this life. But no matter your past, God offers unspeakable joy, blessing, and promise, in this life and for eternity. Through Jesus, we’re offered abundant hope that lasts not for a moment or a lifetime, but for all time; the only thing standing in our way is our unwillingness to surrender to Him.

We each have a conscience built within us that creates boundaries in our lives — and we can tell when we’ve crossed those boundaries. Only through Jesus Christ is it possible to receive forgiveness for our transgressions and live in freedom. We get to choose whether we’re going to carry the guilt of our sin with us everywhere we go, or whether we’re going to find forgiveness and freedom in Christ.

When the devil continues to remind you of your sin, allow God to remind you of your redemption through His Son’s sacrifice on the cross. We have a hard time letting go of our past mistakes, but God already forgot them when we were washed clean in the blood of Christ.

We get so easily ensnared in the sins of our past that they bar us from making the most of our present and looking hopefully ahead to our future. No matter what lies behind us — whether it was done to us or done by us — God can cleanse us and move us forward in incredible ways. His Word assures us that He removes sin from us as far as the east is from the west; let’s live in the promise of that truth!

The words “were” and “are” describe two very different points in time. The former is in the past; the latter is in the present. As we follow God, we come to know that we were one thing before He redeemed us, but thanks to His transforming love, we are made new in His grace and His mercy.

The Lord’s forgiveness doesn’t happen in a vacuum — nor does it leave us the same way that we were before. Salvation changes us, cleanses us, and makes us worthy of a relationship with the living God. When we experience the depths of His mercy and grace, we can’t help but tell other people that it’s available for them, too.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of a lie that tells us God can’t use our future because of our past. Yet time after time, God demonstrates through Scripture that He chooses to use people regardless of their mistakes. His grace, given to us by the power of the cross, is what equips us and enables us to accomplish His work no matter what we’ve done before.

God promises to forget our sin when we confess it to Him and receive the forgiveness offered through Christ’s death and resurrection. So if He’s faithful to not hold it against us…why do we always seem to hold it against ourselves? We’re not meant to wear the guilt of our past once He’s set us free. Instead, we’re called to shed it, move forward, and not allow it to define us anymore.

The Bible’s filled with examples of people who have made mistakes, big and small — but those mistakes aren’t what ultimately defined them. God loves using imperfect people perfectly, so He can restore them, transform their lives, and use them to change the world. When we choose to follow Jesus, we also need to choose to leave our past behind us and fight forward towards spiritual victory.