New Creation

This post is particularly for people who are struggling to let go of the past. I've been there, and believe me, it isn't easy to let go and move on. It's so hard just to say "I'm done with this and I'm not letting it control my thoughts, actions, emotions, or time any more." When you don't let it go, you let whatever this thing in the past is, whether you've been abused, rejected, neglected, etc, control you. This probably isn't new to many, but for those who haven't heard this before, it can be eye-opening. I believe that Satan uses your past to take your attention off of God and put it on yourselves. He doesn't want you to draw closer to God, because he knows that when you do, he is powerless. So He tries to tell you that you need to figure out a way to fix the past. Then you spend countless hours analyzing the past from several different angles, looking for the loop-holes that will enable you to fix it. And yet, while all of this searching is taking place, God is sitting there, waiting for the moment when you stop and realize, you can do absolutely nothing about your past. It is what it is. What happened in the past has helped shape your life, yes. However, the past does not, in any way, define who you are in Christ. Your worth and your value is not based upon what people have thought or said, are thinking or saying, or will think or say about you. Your worth and your value is found in the blood that was shed for you on the cross. That is what defines you. Things in life may refine you, but they do not define you. When you ask Jesus to be your Lord and Savior, you are saying goodbye to the past, once and for all. In God's eyes, we become His sons and daughters. You and everyone else around you are so precious to Him, that He sent His son to die on the cross for you. Look at what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:13-17: "13 If we are “out of our mind,” as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. 16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" Pay close attention to verse 17. "The old has gone, the new is here." That means that you don't have to hold onto your old past. All the lies that were told to you mean nothing and should be cast out. If they are not, then you are listening to Satan's lies and giving him power over your life. I'm not at all saying that letting go is easy, like I said before, it isn't. Letting go of a hurtful past may be one of the hardest things you'll ever have to do. But, it is 100% worth it. No one can tell you when that moment will come. At some point though, you will have to decide that you are no longer going to let your past define who you are and realize that who you are in Christ defines you. Getting to this place will be harder for some than others, but I pray that you get there. And that when you get there, to the place that seems like a pit of despair, anger, and hurt, that you cry out to God with all that is in you and ask Him to show you how and help you let go of the past. I promise you, He will answer, He promises this is His Word. Never forget that you are loved, that you are special, and that He died so that you could be set free from the bondage of sin and its curse.