Mind Games | Voices From the Past | Forget

…forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead…  Philippians 3:13 

Tessa turned over, kicked off the sheet, and grabbed her phone. 2:00 AM. Why couldn’t she get those voices out of her head? They were robbing her of peace, joy, and sleep. “How could you…” Why did you…” “Why didn’t you…” The condemning thoughts pelted her mind as memories played like a ticker tape parade across the inside of her skull. It had gotten worse since she’d found Jesus. She used to silence those voices in a shot glass or a pill bottle. But now she was trying to live right and the voices only got louder. Shame threatened to drown her. She couldn’t help what had happened to her, but it was what she’d continued to do that beat her up like a schoolyard bully. How could she ever be all she wanted to be with a past like that?

If you connect with Tessa’s situation, you are not alone. We were all swimming in the septic tank when Jesus fished us out. And we sometimes catch a whiff of our former selves. If we allow him to, Satan will magnify that stench and try to convince us we’re still there. But God invites us to treat our forgiven sins the way He does. In Isaiah 43:25, God says, “I am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.” God knows exactly what we’ve done and He hates it. But because He wants us to enjoy knowing Him, He chooses to forget it. Notice that He says it is for His own sake, not ours. He forgets our past because He chooses to. So if a holy God stops dwelling on the bad things we’ve done, shouldn’t we?  

Final Thought: When we repent, God chooses to forget the horrible things we’ve done against Him. We must do that too.  
Prayer: Father, I can only call you that because you have chosen to take the sins I confess to you and throw them as far as the east is from the west. If you can choose to forget what lies behind, then because of Jesus, so can I. In His name, Amen.