Today, we're gonna talk about something else that can be even harder to lay down (but must be before we can serve God fully): our past. You may be wondering what I mean. I mean our failures. Everyone has them. God has forgiven them if we've asked His forgiveness. But sometimes it can be hard to forgive ourselves.
How do I know God has forgiven us? Isaiah 43:18-19 and 25 says, "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins." That's an encouraging passage. God doesn't want us us to even consider the things in our past. He doesn't. He's forgotten our sins already. Another verse says He separates our sins from Him as far as the east is from the west. That's a long way; an immeasurable distance. Not only has He forgotten our past sins, but He's doing a whole new thing in our lives. He wants to make streams where deserts once were.
On top of all this, God says we are blessed if we are forgiven: "Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him..." (Psalm 32:1-2). It is obvious that God has forgiven and totally forgotten our past sins. Yet we still struggle with forgiving ourselves.
Consider the prodigal son. Running away with his part of the inheritance didn't change his sonship (backsliding does not change the fact we are Christians). The son followed a wayward path for a long time before he realized it was wrong and that it would eventually destroy him. He went back to his Father the way we all must--broken. But his Father met him out in the field with open arms; it was as if the son had never sinned.
It's a story we all should be familiar with--it happens to us all on nearly a daily basis. We leave the Father, and follow the paths of our own desires. Then we see where we were wrong, and we run back to the Father. He forgives and forgets our sins, and the angels in heaven rejoice!
Case in point: we need to learn to forgive ourselves, no matter how "bad" the deed we've done. Your sins were covered 2000 years ago by Jesus' blood. You just have to accept that. Never let Satan hang your past over your head. Instead, move on toward the goal to receive the prize!