Shepherd's Lighthouse Church

It is said that he who lives in the past denies himself a future ……

Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.   And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."  John 8:31-32

“And the truth shall make you free!”  -  What truth was Jesus talking about?

Psalm 119:142, speaking of God, declares, “Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, And Your law is truth.”

God’s Law – His Ten Commandments? 

But the Psalm continues to say in verse 160 that, “The entirety of Your word is truth, And every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever.”

And Jesus, interceding for His disciples in John 17:17 says, "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.”

So we know that truth is revealed by the Word of God.

And the Word of God, in Romans 3:23 says that, “… all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God …”

All fall short because of sin – a human weakness to live a consistently righteous life.

But Romans 6:22-23 assures us that all who would receive Jesus as Savior have now been set free from sin, “…  and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.  For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

So the truth that sets us free is the Word of God.

And what it frees us from is sin – the weakness that keeps us earthbound.

And what it frees us to is life – eternal life.

Now the Word of God reveals many things to us – it is our window to reality and exposes all the illusions of earthly life.

And one of the greatest illusions in life is that we are compelled to be shaped by our experiences.

Human wisdom dictates that we are each the product of everything that has happened to us – a construct of  years of actions and reactions.

But Prov 23:7 assures us that, as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.   If we believe that we can only be what our experiences make us, we remain slaves to circumstance.

And if we serve our circumstances we cannot serve God – Matthew 6:24 clearly states that, "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.”

This is a true statement – if anyone thinks that no one serves circumstance I remind you that many a person is absolutely trapped in some past event that adversely affects his or her life in the present.

This is why Romans 12:2 warns us, “... do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

If we are not transformed in our minds to divine viewpoint, we remain slaves to the illusion that we are what we have experienced.  And we will be trapped in our past just as surely as plaster that is set in a mold.

It is this very illusion that causes many people to live lives of quiet desperation, shackled to their past and unable to enjoy the present to the extent that God intends them to – remember Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:34 "... Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

Jesus told us that we can break free of the mold of experience and enjoy life without guilt or anger or resentment.

Guilt, anger, and resentment are waiting for all those who believe themselves to be the result of their experiences.

Recently I heard some people on the radio talking about how they deal with unpleasant past experiences. 

The experiences they were talking about included such things as domestic violence, abuse, incest, rape, and all manner of mean and nasty happenings.

They insisted that talking about these unpleasant and traumatic experiences was therapeutic and helped them to deal with the scars left by them.

But I truly wonder just how much benefit is derived from reliving the unpleasant past.

I believe that in recalling evil events or experiences, rather than removing them, we give them brand new life.  And they become instruments that the Devil skillfully uses to systematically demolish our lives.

Psychologists believe that harmful memories can be discharged and rendered harmless through talking about them.  So they have developed all sorts of techniques to bring about “closure” through the externalization of memories.

But 2 Cor 5:17 tells us that, “... if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

Do you know what that means?

It means that all the unpleasant things that you have been carrying around with you actually happened to somebody you used to be – they happened to somebody else – and you no longer have to struggle through life with guilt, anger, or resentment.  Christ has removed the burden from you – He has set you free to be you – He has declared that you are not your past.

Behold, all things have become new – in Christ.

We can find all sorts of reasons and rebuttals to validate our preoccupations with past failures and disappointment – for one thing, they can justify our falling short of our expectations.

But if we will believe Jesus and not our circumstances – if we would seek to find meaning for life in Him rather than in ourselves – we can rise above any experience or memory no matter how large or monstrous it may be.

True and lasting meaning can only be found in something higher than yourself.

And there is nothing higher than God.

And He tells us that He cares for us beyond our ability to comprehend.

In Jer 31:3 The LORD says, "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.”

In Romans 8:35 He says, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or  hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?”

Psalm 27:10 tells us that even if, “… my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will receive me.”

So, if God is for me who can be against me? Romans 8:31

That is to say, what does it matter?

2 Tim 2:4 reminds us that, “No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs--he  wants to please his commanding officer.”

When we cease to be man-pleasers (and that includes our selves), and when we seek above all to please Christ, then we die to the world and the world can no longer harm us.

So when those things of the past rise up to discourage us or rob us of peace, we have only to believe Jesus – that by His supreme authority He has declared us to be new and no longer a product of our past but a valued member of His Kingdom.

The truth as Jesus taught us is that we do not have to be shaped by our experiences – we can be redesigned by God.

Amen.