Your Past Doesn’t Define You–You’re Not a Failure

As human beings, we have all, in some way or another, experienced failure. Big or small, we’ve all messed up on something, and most likely, there have been times when we’ve felt terrible about what we’ve done.

Praise the Lord, failure doesn’t define us! The Bible says in Proverbs 24:16, “For the righteous falls seven times, and rises again.”

Sometimes it can be so hard to rise above failure! To shake off those remaining feelings of regret or guilt, and move on from the past. But we’re not the only ones who have ever failed before.

Do you know that some very important and influential men in the Bible messed up really badly too?

First, there’s King David. He wrote the book of Psalms, and God did some awesome things through him. He was chosen by God at a young age and anointed as king. Although something less commonly talked about is the fact that he committed adultery and had a man killed.

But he was still a man after God’s own heart. How? Why? Because he recognized what he had done wrong, and repented before God about it.

And then, there is apostle Paul, the man who wrote two-thirds of the New Testament. The man who spoke to multiple churches with instructions directly from God. The man whose writings have been massively influential in the church of God as a whole.

But before all of those things, he was the biggest persecutor of the church of Christ. He traveled around imprisoning and killing Christians.

He could’ve had every excuse to live in misery and sorrow, believing he had let God down, and that there would never be hope for him.

Paul could’ve said, “Sorry God, but I messed up too badly. I think I’m past receiving forgiveness from even you. It’s too late for me.” But he didn’t. Here’s what he did say.

“…But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind, and reaching forward to what lies ahead.” You see, Paul understood first hand what redemption looked like. He experienced it in his own life!

It can be difficult to move on from the past when you’ve done something you think is unforgivable. Something you think is beyond being being fixed.

But I can promise you something: there is always redemption for you, there is forgiveness, and a chance to keep moving forward. Ephesians 1:7 tells us, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace,”

God is all about forgiveness, that’s why He sent His Son, so we could be redeemed. So we could live the life He’s made us for.

Your past doesn’t define you. You can learn from your mistakes and failures. But you can also rise above them, and live in the freedom and redemption God promises and has provided.

You can live like you are redeemed from your past, because you are.