THANKFUL

Chatting with Jesus

Monday, June 6, 2023

Lord, you give new life, and a fresh start to everyone who calls on you. Walking with you, Jesus, never grows old. All you redeem you transform into a new creation—our old lifestyle, old ‘things’—erased forever. You promised never to bring them up again. (2 Corinthians 5:17). Your Word clearly teaches you have ‘removed our sin from us as far as the east is from the west’ (Psalm 103:12). You buried the mistakes of my past. So why does my soul refuse to let go of some old things? I find this most annoying. Scripture reveals this is an old pattern. After you brought Israel out of slavery in Egypt, didn’t they have some longings to return to Egypt? Didn’t you find this most annoying?

Lord, forgive me. I know I have old things I keep picking up but need to shed. If you have taken my past mistakes, sins I committed that dishonored you, and made me a fool, and removed them from me as far as the east is from the west, what business do I have chasing them, attempting to re-live the past that I cannot change? Why do I continue to beat myself up over my past mistakes? Teach me how to forgive myself for things you forgave me for long ago.

Jesus, you are my Lord and Savior. You see my frailty. From the time I wake up until I lay my head at night, I fall short of your standards. Help me remember your mercy still covers me and I can leave my past in the past, and never take it up again.

No longer re-living the past but now living freely in your grace, Jesus. Amen.