Hebrews 8:12 NKJV
[12] For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”
Good Morning:
Remember when we were back in grade school and you erased something, perhaps a math problem that you messed up? What did you do next? You blew away all of the eraser pieces. That’s what God does to our sins — he blows them away and remembers them no more. As a born-again Christian, God simply erases our past and forgives our sins as far as the east is from the west. He has removed our transgressions and replaces them with a crown of righteousness. This is not something that we could ever earn, but only by God’s plan of grace and salvation, are we able to receive.
Psalm 103:11-12 NKJV
[11] For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; [12] As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
2 Timothy 4:8 NKJV
[8] Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.
Forgetting the Past
No matter what dark things have happened in our past, God will take away all of those wrongs, replacing a heart of stone with a heart of flesh, one that seeks His will and plans for the future. He has and will take the worst of sinners, redeeming them unto Himself. He will give us a new hope of eternal life that is one that we will want to share with the people we know and love.
God delights in mercy. He loves when sinners call on His name for forgiveness. He created us for His delight. He wants a relationship with each and every one of us. It is His plan and will for all of us to not perish, but to come to repentance.
Ezekiel 36:26 NKJV
[26] I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
Micah 7:18-19 NKJV
[18] Who is a God like You, Pardoning iniquity And passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in mercy. [19] He will again have compassion on us, And will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins Into the depths of the sea.
2 Peter 3:9 NKJV
[9] The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
Changed Lives Matter
When we receive our new heart, that is fresh and new, God gives us His Holy Spirit to lead, guide and direct our lives. It is through Him that we live, and move and have our being. With His direction, we can make a difference and we matter to the plans our Creator has to reach other lost souls.
We all matter to God. He loves us all so dearly and wants us all to have a relationship with Him. But without those who have changed lives through His grace, His word will not spread. It is up to us to go and make disciples, go and bear fruit and continue the work that has been done for two thousand years before us. Those alive in Christ today are the remnant that has been passed down from generation to generation and we need to keep passing His word forward to the next generation.
Acts 17:28 NKJV
[28] for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’
Matthew 28:19-20 NKJV
[19] Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [20] teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
John 15:16 NKJV
[16] You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.
2 Kings 19:30 NKJV
[30] And the remnant who have escaped of the house of Judah Shall again take root downward, And bear fruit upward.
Romans 11:5 NKJV
[5] Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
One Thing
As Paul tells us in Philippians 3:13, we are to do one thing — forget those things in the past and reach forward to the things that are ahead. Start now, today, and get in the race. No matter what your past is, until you take your last breath on this earth, you can still enter the race. Let God lead you and pray for His wisdom to be revealed to you so that you may know the hope of His calling on your life!
Philippians 3:13-14 NLT
[13] No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, [14] I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
Ephesians 1:17-18 NKJV
[17] that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, [18] the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
God doesn’t dwell on the past and neither should you. Let’s all get off the sidelines and get in the race!
I love you and am praying for you today!
Dad