A former mediocre baseball player raised his batting average almost 100 points more than the prior season and was named Most Valuable Player in the National League. Asked to explain his dramatic improvement, he said he had learned to focus on the moment at hand. “I don’t think about my past at-bats any more,” he explained. “I put my failures behind me and concentrate on the present.”

Past failures and sins often become the parasitic thief that robs many Christians of God’s peace and joy. Somehow such Christians never quite step into the abundant life God has planned for them. They always seem on the verge of stepping into it but are apparently unable to conquer the plague of past mistakes.

The scriptures are clear on this point: The believer in Jesus Christ is not a victim of his past. He is more than a conqueror through Christ and has the capacity to enjoy each day to its fullest and reach the maximum of his potential for God’s kingdom work.

The answer is to understand, embrace, and appropriate by faith each day the radical cure of the cross - complete forgiveness of sin through Christ’s sacrificial death. When Christ died, the guilt and penalty of your sin was placed on Him. When you receive Him as Savior, you do not have to fear death anymore because Christ died for you. But here is the other part of the good news, you do not have to stagnate in the polluted pool of guilt either, for Jesus was your guilt offering. You can now “draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having [your] heart sprinkled to cleanse [you] from a guilty conscience” (Heb. 10:22). God does not condemn you anymore. Why should you condemn yourself? Yes, there may be consequences to your sin that you must still endure, but your guilt has been taken away.
The love and favor of God will help you successfully deal with the aftershocks of sin.

The psalmist said that God has taken away your sin as far as east is from west (Ps. 103:12). That was David’s graphic description of God’s forgiveness, and he certainly knew the pain of past failures. But his even greater awareness of God’s total pardon kept him from belaboring his past defeats and allowed him to become a man after God’s own heart.

Is the past stealing today’s peace in your life? It doesn’t have to anymore. Christ offers you free, full forgiveness so that you may walk in the beauty of His love today and every day. Humble yourself, confess any sin the Holy Spirit convicts you of, receive your pardon in Christ, and concentrate on today’s opportunities. You can rise from spiritual mediocrity to a new level of sustained joy and peace in the Lord.

Lord, I see now that what I did wrong ten years ago, ten days ago, or ten minutes ago has already been forgiven through Christ’s death on the cross. What freedom there is knowing that I am totally forgiven!
There is nothing to match it. Teach me to hate sin as you do so that I may understand the incredible depth of your forgiveness. Thank you for removing the chains of guilt and freeing me to face today’s challenges with fresh confidence. Amen