A New Thing

"Then he returned to the disciples and said to them,

'Are you still sleeping and resting?

Look, the hour has come,

and the Son of Man is delivered

into the hands of sinners. 

Rise!

Let us go!'"

Matthew 26:45-46

 “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?"

Isaiah 43:19

 My mind drifts back to past failures and I involuntarily shudder as I remember the feelings of disappointment, embarrassment and failure.  I think we've all experienced this phenomenon of reliving  past mistakes. 

There's a fitting Cherokee Proverb that goes, "Don't let yesterday use up too much of today."  Although it's hard to let go of missed chances, failures to make the most of every opportunity or times when I've simply dropped the ball, God does not hold these against me.  He has a better way.

Acknowledge



In the 32nd Psalm, David describes the misery he goes through as he attempts to hide his sin.  He felt as though he was wasting away and his heart was heavy with guilt.  Once he came to the point of admitting his disobedience to God, he explained the process this way. 

"Then I acknowledged my sin to you
   and did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, 'I will confess
   my transgressions to the LORD.'
And you forgave
   the guilt of my sin." 

(Psalm 32:5)

Before I can experience liberation from past failures, I must admit my sin to God, confessing my guilt.  Sometimes it's simply a heart attitude which is unpleasing to the Lord, sometimes it's an outright rebellious action.  Either way, He has already forgiven me through the sacrifice of His Son on the cross, so my forgiveness does not depend upon my confession.  But if I want to be free of the guilt of this wrong, I must come to terms with it and identify it for what it is: sin.

Acknowledging my past sin before God is the first step in the process of experiencing the new thing God has for me in the present.

Let Go

Psalm 103:12 reminds us that, "as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us."  While this is true for God, it is not so for me.  I have a hard time letting go of past failures. 

Forgiveness can be defined as the act of letting go.  When I hold onto these past transgressions, using them to beat myself up, I am refusing to forgive myself.  What I am saying is that God has already released me from that transgression, but I refuse to let myself off the hook.  I am requiring of myself something more than Christ crucified.

When Jesus willingly gave himself over to be brutally killed, He did so out of obedience to His Father's plan of redemption.  He paid the penalty for my sins, providing a way for me to be reconciled with a holy God and to receive from Him the forgiveness of my sins.

If I am unwilling to forgive myself based on this truth, then I am minimizing the power of the sacrifice of Christ!  I am declaring the cross to be impotent.

The Apostle Paul reminds me that, ". . .  the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." (1 Corinthians 1:18)

The act of forgiving myself reflects my understanding and acceptance of the power of God found in the message of the cross.

Move On

When the disciples let Jesus down at His time of greatest need while He waited for His accuser to arrive in the Garden of Gethsemane, He gave them a simple yet powerful command.  "Rise!  Let us Go!" (Matthew 26:46)

Even though his close companions and followers let Jesus down by falling asleep when He asked them to stay awake and stand guard, the plan was still going forth as God had planned.  Their disobedience did not change the course of the future.

Oswald Chamber put it this way.  "Let the past sleep, but let it sleep on the bosom of Christ, and go out into the irresistible future with Him."

Jesus did not write them off.  He did not give up on them and tell them they were hopeless failures!  Instead, He forgave them and said, "Let's go."

God's plan is not dependent upon my success or failures.  It will go forth despite my obedience or disobedience.

It reminds me of the call to action given to Queen Esther my her cousin Mordecai. He said, “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape.  For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:12-14)

In other words, God will save His people whether you act or not.  The question is, will you be a part of His plan, or will you be against it?

If I made the foolish choice to let an opportunity to obey God pass me by, I still have more opportunities yet to come.  The course of the future has not been altered.  I have the freedom to move on.

God is doing a new thing right now.  If I don't move on from where I've been, I might miss it!

We all make mistakes, missing chances to obey God, thus sinning against Him.  But once I acknowledge that sin and let go of it, I am free to move on. 

God is a God of second chances.  Let this be the day that I begin to accept His grace and go on to the next thing!

As I begin this day, it is my prayer that I can forgive myself of the sins that weigh me down.

How am I refusing myself forgiveness for which something God has already granted forgiveness?

What area of my life from which am I struggling to move on?