Repented Past

Image by Tentes from Pixabay 

Dear Lord, what is your message for me today? Will one of my devotions touch my heart or a nerve? Will my pastor’s sermon be your messenger telling me something I need to hear? Open my eyes and heart to the teachings of the Holy Spirit through whatever means you employ. I also pray that not only do I take your message to heart, but have the discipline and the courage to accept it and take the necessary action. Amen.

God heard my prayer and answered.

I’m reading through the Bible, taking a passage from The Old Testament, starting with Genesis, then one of the Psalms, starting with the first, and finishing with a reading from The New Testament, starting with Matthew.

Psalm 25:7: “The sins of my youth and my ignorances do not remember.”

The Psalmist is asking God not to remember his sins, but God is reminding me to forget them as well.

As I posted in No Fishing, once I’ve repented and cast them into God’s Ocean of Forgiveness, there’s no fishing. I’m to leave them there. But I often reel them back in, like I did this morning.

I woke with the usual detritus swirling in my mind, repenting — again — for past sins (and some recent ones). I’m better at getting off that merry-go-round, but I can’t seem to stop from getting on in the first place.

  Maya Angelou said it well. “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”

Maya’s words resonate. Once I know better, the chances of repeating some of my past mistakes are less. I can at least let those go. As far as the new ones? I must ask God for his help. I’m too weak to resist them on my own.

Thank you, Lord, for your continued compassion. You could have left me wallowing in my guilt, but you reminded me you have forgiven my sins and that I also need to forgive — and forget — my repented past. Amen.