It is easier to confront a troubled past in which you were an active participant than to come to terms with a painful history where you were merely an innocent victim of circumstances. It is far safer to recognise when we have failed God than to wrestle with the feeling that God has failed us. While God readily forgives, people often struggle to do the same. And perhaps the hardest thing is forgiving God-yet true wisdom reveals that there is nothing to forgive. In time, we come to understand that everything God permits will ultimately work for the good of those who love him.
Moreover, one of the worst things that can happen to us is refusing to reconcile with ourselves or falling into self-hate. We must learn to acknowledge our faults so that God can shape us into the perfect image of his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Walking with God is a journey of love. We must learn to love ourselves despite all odds.
The mercy of God cannot be quantified. He is not interested in our destruction. He believes more in our future, what he wants to accomplish through us and within us, than in what we’ve made of ourselves. We may be ruminating over our past, he rather wants us to think about our future because he has not finish with us. We are alive for his purpose.
The Lord said in Isaiah 43:16-21,
“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it” Paul, in his own admonition to the Philippians said, “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
More so, the Lord Jesus told the woman caught in adultery, after all his accusers have gone, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one, Lord.’ And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.” John 8:1-11
Before God, no one has the right to condemn us. We all have our own shortcomings. If we walk in God’s ways, we don’t need to fear what others say about us, because God alone is our judge. And if he is a merciful Father who longs to reason with us, then we can be confident that he is always ready to do something new in our lives. He has plans for our future.
May we always be aware of God’s love and mercy, and may his promises come to fulfilment in our lives. Amen.
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