Day 2246 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.


1 Corinthians 6:11 NIV

Who we were. Who we've been. Past tense is a powerful thing in our faith. That freedom to change, to let things go, to do something new and different is one of the biggest gifts that any of us could ever hope for. The lives we've lived do not have to be the ones we live today. The choices we've made don't have to be the same going forward. Thanks to Christ's redemption, we're no longer slaves to who we were before.

Each of us have done things we wouldn't dare to do again. We've made choices that make us cringe at the very thought of them now. Words have been said that we would give anything to take back. We've all walked along paths that we now know we should have never ventured upon. Take all of those hard-earned lessons and use them to better yourself starting here and now. That's the opportunity that our faith affords us!

Christ is our escape from those broken lives we've lived. He's the key that unlocks the cell doors of sin and shame. He's the price that we couldn't pay. He's the forgiveness that we don't deserve. His blood washed us clean. His kindness set us apart. His love made us new. His mercy opened up a new life that we shouldn't be able to dream of living. And through Him we have the justification to live for more than what we once thought was good enough.

To know that nothing we've done has the power to hold us back anymore is incredible. Those memories and the scars of our past mistakes may linger, but they don't have to pull us down. If anything, they're reminders of what we've been saved from. They're our proof that Christ loved us at our worst. They're our motivation to fight for something better. They're evidence that we don't know what's best and that we should follow God's paths instead.

We once tried to be the authors of our own story. We wanted to call the shots. We wanted to make the choices. We wanted to do what we wanted and that's just what we did. What did it get us? Nothing but mistakes and a list of things we're now ashamed of. Thankfully those first few chapters of our lives that we tried to control don't tell the whole story. God does. And His story isn't one of shame and defeat. It's one of love, mercy, salvation, freedom, and promises that we can't imagine!

Comments

  1. marcieApril 18, 2021 at 12:02 AM

    Thank you Jesus because without you we would not have a chance. We can now be reborn, hopefull and forgiven.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. KyleApril 18, 2021 at 6:52 PM

      Amen!!! A brand new start without the weight of our pasts is seriously mind-blowing!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 1996 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Image
Isaiah 44:22 NIV Redemption: To compensate for the faults or bad aspects of something; to gain or regain possession of something in exchange for payment; or to fulfill or carry out a pledge or promise. Our God is so big that He fits every definition of the word! We've been talking about how we don't have to be lost in doing things our own way forever and how He will welcome us back whenever we finally realize we need Him more than anything else. Redemption is why. All of our mistakes, all our weaknesses, all our excuses have been washed away. There is literally nothing left between us and God except for us. We are all that remains in the way of the healing and forgiveness that we need. Seriously, all that stands in our way of the peaceful and joyous freedom we're looking for is our choice to turn back to Him. That's it! I think that one of the biggest hurdles we face in making that choice is that it truly seems impossible. Whether we openly admit them or not, we all kno
Read more

Day 2317 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Image
Proverbs 16:18 NIV Most, if not all of us have this innate problem that we've developed. Maybe it's a result of living in a world that has nearly no concept of wrong. Maybe it's just a product of our deceitful minds wanting to do whatever we want without having to weigh the consequences. Whatever the reason, we've somehow gotten it in our minds that we're incapable of making mistakes. We've become conceited to the point that we actually believe that we never get anything wrong. And while that may make us feel good, there's no avoiding the truth that tells us otherwise! Each of us make the wrong choices. We jump to conclusions. We take things out of context. We rush through things. We assume that we know what someone else is talking about without making sure. We answer before we hear the full question. We hear things that someone else doesn't necessarily say. We let things slip out of our mouths that we may not really mean. We give in to selfishness witho
Read more

Welcome to The Forge!

Image
Welcome to The Forge! This page is all about God, our faith in Him, and finding our way back to the truths and principles found in His Word. As I'm sure many of you have noticed, the world is losing its mind. Sin is celebrated. Wrongs are viewed as right. What's right is out the window and seldom considered. Popularity is the driving force behind many actions. Being politically correct is the norm and anything else is just not acceptable.  Well, none of that nonsense flies in The Forge. We are stronger t han the pressures of the world around us. We are tougher than the pull of sin. We are called to rise above the fog of this hate-fueled judgment that the world is covered in. God didn't create us as timid little beings that need to be led around by our noses. He designed us to do better than simply go with the flow. No, He made us much different than that. He made us to be leaders, He created us to go against the grain, live outside the lines, and stand tall and hold firm to
Read more