We have received many questions in the past on the subject of going back to the old life. Why are the past mistakes and obsessions keep chasing me even after I have asked forgiveness? I have told the sinner’s prayer and sincerely asked Jesus to forgive me. I know Jesus has forgiven my past. But I am still not able to overcome past weaknesses.
My dear friend, if this is your question today? Before we move ahead, I would like to encourage you that you are a precious child of Jesus. Do not be discouraged. Jesus paid the price to redeem you from the past. You will soon overcome and come out of it. There are two parts to our salvation. Let’s try to understand this in detail.
Forgiveness for Past
The first part of salvation is asking for genuine forgiveness for our past life. During this process, Jesus forgives our past. We believe Jesus died for us on the cross as a sacrifice and receive forgiveness from Him in faith. Through the sacrifice of Jesus, we are made right with God. Do you want to know how to ask for forgiveness? You can read it here =>
Repentance from Our Past
The second part of our salvation is repenting from our past and quitting it forever. This process is called letting go of our past or dying to our old sinful habits. What is the meaning of letting our old sinful nature go? We might have lied before, we might be obsessed to something. We might be carrying a hard feeling for someone in our hearts. As part of the repentance, we would have to stop lying. Stop yielding to the obsessions. Throw all our hard feelings away.
The Bible says, “We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin”.
This is where we struggle to let our past go. The fleshly desire fights with our newborn spiritual man in God. The flesh overcomes the spiritual man and pushes us back to past mistakes. The good news is we do not have to fight this battle again. The Holy Spirit Jesus promised us will help us. He will convict, correct, and counsel us every day. All we have to do is to listen to His voice and allow Him to lead us. The Bible says, “And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.“
We can overcome the past with a combination of our intention to come out of it and with the help of the Holy Spirit. We know the Holy Spirit will always pray for us. But How can we develop purposeful intention in our hearts to fight against our past? How can we willingly and happily put to death our past? Jesus Himself gave the answer to this question. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will obey my commandments”.
Do You Love Jesus?
Dear friend, no one can keep the commandments of Jesus unless He loves Jesus. There is no shortcut to this. If we love Jesus then we will voluntarily give up our past mistakes. In fact, we will start hating it. Past entertainment will no longer entice us. Past obsessions will disappear from our hearts.
No one will be able to follow Jesus unless he or she loves Him with all his heart, mind, strength, and soul. If you are going back to your past, please search your heart. Do you love Jesus? Even if you say, you love Jesus, do you love Him because of what he can give us or what he has done for us on the cross? We can follow Jesus only when we love Him for what He has done for us on the cross.
Dear friend, Please search your heart today. Did you lose the love you had for Jesus in your life? Is your heart feeling cold right now? Do not be discouraged. Do not be feel bad. Please meditate on the cross. The God who created you and me hanged on the cross to forgive all our past. Why should He do that? Did He not loved us first and offered Himself as the supreme sacrifice? Let your eyes look at the nail-pierced hands of Jesus. Meditate upon His compassionate heart and overflowing love for us. Is there anything that is worth holding on to compare to the love of Jesus? Let’s throw away our past that is holding on to us.
Dear Jesus, I keep doing what I don’t want to do. I could not fight against my fleshly desires. Keep falling again and again. Jesus, today I learned that I need to love you in order to follow your commandments. Jesus, you have done a great sacrifice on the cross to forgive all my past mistakes. You are the prince of peace and God of earth and heaven. At a snap of your finger, so many angels were ready to die on the cross in your place. But you yourself came down for my sake and died on the cross. What a great love and what sacrifice you have done for me. Let my heart realize love. Let me follow you all my heart. Let me throw away all my past. It is not worth before your wonderful sacrifice. I want to live a successful life. I pray in Jesus’s name.
If you have decided to follow Christ and want to know more on what to do next, you can read here =>