December 31

 ‘As we go forth into the coming year, let it not be in the haste of impetuous, unremembering delight, nor with the flight of impulsive thoughtlessness, but with the patient power of knowing that the God of Israel will go before us.’ - Oswald Chambers

                It is unlikely that anyone reading this post has never made a mistake. Lord knows I’ve made my share. The recognition of missed opportunities, tempers lost, or worse, can drag us down from our path to righteousness in Christ and into the pit of despair. Despair is the worst of all sins for the born again Christian. To despair is to reject the Atonement of Christ. He has forgiven our sin and it is improper for us to pick it up again.

                God forgives our sin, but He does not remove the memory of it from us. Why is that? Sin is the unpleasant result of the gift of free will and when committed, the memory of sin should be retained only for the purposes of introspection. God has allowed us to fail by our own devices for reasons which are myriad. However all reasons ultimately manifest in themselves an opportunity for us to learn and to grow in Christ.

                Imagine the child learning to ride a bike with his father. If the father never lets go of the bike, the child will never fall, though he will never learn to balance himself either. Instead, the father lets the go of the bicycle and allows the child to inevitably meet the pavement. The child’s scrapes will heal, but the unpleasant memory of gravities ill effects remain and the child gradually learns to account for balance. The child will crash again, but the crashes will become less frequent with practice.

                Christ heals our scrapes, but allows the memory. Without the memory, ours would be a shallow cycle of repeated scrapes and the Sacrifice of the Cross would be of no importance. God requires us to retain our past. He has allowed our mistakes to shape us for His service. He recognizes that we will make mistakes in the future, but rest in the comfort that He will not allow any circumstance greater than we can bear so long as we take refuge in Him.

                Our past should not provoke anxiety and regret if we have given ourselves up to Him.