Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present – Regina Brett
Skeletons in our closets. We all have them. They are the secrets, memories from our past, that we prefer not to talk about and would rather not have anyone know about. Sometimes they are terrible things that happened to us, things beyond our control. Other times, they are past choices, usually wrong decisions. We keep them buried and pray that anyone who knows about them never brings them up.
Mine are hideous. Some were created by others – things that happened to me when I was very young. They occasionally resurface – only in my thoughts – and remind me that they are there. I shudder and shoo them away. The ones I created on my own, through my own poor choices, are the ones who give me the most trouble.
They are the ones who push the door open, cross their arms and stare at me, grinning with delight, reminding me that it’s my own fault they exist in the first place. They usually climb out of the closet when God calls me into service, when He says to me, “Child, I have this work for you to do. You and you alone can do it.” Those are the times the closet is most likely to creak open, the bones start to rattle, and the chilling voices say “Who do you think you are to believe, after all of the junk in your past, God would really call you into service? What kind of voice will you really be for the Almighty, especially when people find out about all of your stupid choices? You’re just kidding yourself!”
And, foolish me, I entertain them for a time. I panic, overwhelmed with the fear that people will reject me and the message I believe God has for them if and when they find out about my past sins. I pray, begging God to bury my past, to make it go away, to give me the courage I need to move forward in Him. Then I just stuff the bones back into the closet, slam the door, wipe the sweat from my brow, and meekly drag my feet through whatever it is I’ve been called to do. I’m forever glancing over my shoulder to see if the skeletons have crept out and followed me on the journey. I have trouble focusing on the work of the Lord and the path He’s set before me because my eyes are constantly looking back.
Since the publication of my novel a year ago, my work for the Lord has become very public. I spend hours in shops and libraries signing books and sharing the Lord with people who come in off the street. Other times, I’ve been honored with the blessing of standing before a group of people and sharing the love and grace of Jesus Christ. The skeletons have been more active in the last twelve months than they’ve been in a very long time. This week, while preparing a message, they came crashing out and nearly pushed me to the edge – until the Lord stepped in and shined His light on those skeletons.
First of all, skeletons are dead. The dead can’t harm us. The only power the dead can have is the power we give them. Second, Christ destroyed death. When he conquered the grave, He conquered sin and death – not only the literal death, but also our deadly sins. They are gone, dead, destroyed. Third, we are promised in God’s Word that when we give our lives to Christ, “we are a new creation; old things have passed away, behold all things have become new.” (II Corinthians 5:17). And finally, God removes our transgressions – “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:12).
If God, the creator of the universe, the ultimate in perfection, can remove our sins, why then can’t we leave them in the past? Why do we continue to allow what is dead to ruin our todays and tomorrow’s?
When the skeletons open the door and start taunting, turn away and remember that Christ reconciled our past on the cross. Our past is dead. Stop giving the skeletons power and let Christ reign in power and glory in your life.
