Does Your Past Define You?

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” – Corinthians 5:17

Throughout my life, I have heard the phrase “Don’t let your past define you,” but it has never made sense. I’ve always felt that my experiences and the people from my past have impacted my life, influencing how I conduct myself and my thought process. So, how do I change the negatives from my past that have kept me constrained? This prompted me to understand the definition of the word, define. Vocabulary.com identifies “define” as to limit or to create a boundary according to its Latin and French roots. It’s like our past fencing us in. The truth is that we all have a past that we can’t change, which is now our history.

Sometimes the past can feel heavy and blind us from seeing beyond what we believe about our future. God reminded me that we have a Savior who opened the gate toward freedom, heals our wounds, and guides us into a new life as we move forward in His righteousness, strength, and love. So now, we can walk through this gate by understanding what He did for us and getting to know Him through God’s word, regardless of what others may have said or done to us, or what we did before we accepted Christ as our Savior, or during our journey with Christ. Today is a new day to choose to remove the limits and boundaries that hold us back from walking in the new us that the Lord has already promised.

Sharing our history can encourage others in similar situations who are struggling and bring light to those who have judged us. Testify to others about what the Lord has done and brought you through. What Christ has done for us and through us makes us new when we receive Him as our Savior. My mouth will tell of Your righteousness and of Your salvation all day long; for I do not know the sum of them. I will come with the mighty deeds of the Lord GOD; I will make mention of Your righteousness, Yours alone. – Psalm 71:15-16 (NASB)

Will you walk through the gate and base your life on what Christ thinks of you and has done for you, and will continue to do, or are you stuck on the fence of your past? Ask Him to help you remove the restraints that hold you back from moving forward in Him. “And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” – Romans 5:5

Heavenly Father, creator of heaven and earth, thank You for freeing us from our past and using it for good, giving us a reason to share how You made us new. We are no longer held captive by our past because of You. May Your will be done.

This devotion by author Terrie Miles is exclusively and solely shared with permission to New Beginnings Church. Any unauthorized printed reproduction, sharing, or use of this material is prohibited.