A New Year
I hear someone asking, ‘How can I forget? These bad memories keep coming back to my mind. When I try to do something good, the mistakes and failures that I have made in the past keep flying through my mind.’
One Christian writer said many years ago: “You may not be able to control the birds that fly over your head, but you can keep them from making a nest in your hair.” The same thing goes for negative memories. Here are some suggestions to help you forget the failures of the past:
1. Accept the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ if you have not done so already.
Romans 10:9,13 states: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Salvation through Jesus Christ has an amazing way of wiping the slate clean and causing you to forget a lot of negative things that you have done in the past. Since Jesus Christ saved me, there are even people that I have forgotten. So, if you are not saved yet, may I encourage you to accept the free gift of salvation by placing your trust, faith, and belief in Jesus Christ, His death, burial, and resurrection, and He will save you and change you forever.
Because of our sins, the things that we have done wrong, God had to send His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross to pay the penalty of death and hell. If God did not send His Son to do this, each of us would have to pay the penalty for our own sins which is eternal punishment and separation from God in a place called hell. Three days after Jesus was crucified, He rose from the dead, defeating death and hell forever. All we have to do to receive this free gift of salvation and secure a place in Heaven is believe that Jesus Christ died, was buried, and rose from the dead by the power of God for our sins. John 3:16 says: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” If you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, may I invite you to pray the following prayer from your heart and ask Him to come into your life:
After you get saved, you become a new creature in Christ. The Bible states in 2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” As a new creature in Christ, you begin to take on a new mentality–a Christ-like mentality. That Christ-like mentality will allow you to forget about your failures and sins of the past because they have already been washed under the precious blood of Jesus Christ. He has forgiven you and now you can forgive yourself and move forward with your life.
2. Ask God to forgive you of your sins.
I John 1:9 states: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Friend of mine, you will never stop remembering the failures or sins of the past if you don’t ask God through Christ to forgive you and cleanse you of your sins.
Don’t just ask Jesus to cleanse you, accept His forgiveness. Many people pray daily, ‘Lord, forgive me of my sins.’ But after praying their hearts out, they refuse to accept the Lord’s forgiveness and don’t forgive themselves, and then continue to live defeated lives.
Forgiveness is a very important gift that is essential for life. It allows us to be free from past sins and wrongdoings and gives us peace and hope for a brighter future. As we accept the forgiveness of God, we will begin to realize that spiritual freedom is possible and we can overcome habits and strongholds in our lives, which will enable us to make the New Year truly the best New Year of our lives.
3. Repent of your sins.
Jesus told the woman taken in adultery, “Go and sin no more.”
Someone once said, “If you keep doing what you are doing, you will keep getting what you are getting.” We cannot erase bad memories by creating new bad memories. So, repent and turn away from the failure or sin that produces the bad memories in your life.
Now to forget your failures and sins of the past, you have to accept those sins and failures and repent of those sins. Before you can move on in the New Year, you must deal with what is hindering you. Face up to your sins and mistakes and repent of them. When you do that, the devil and those who want to accuse you will have nothing to attack you with.
Dr. Mark Mcminn, professor of psychology at George Fox University writes the following about confession: “We must not forget human potential and goodness because somewhere deep inside is always a glimmering urge to confess, to be restored and reconciled in meaningful relationships, to do what is right and abandon what is wrong.”
Repent means to turn away from; to do an “about face.” Turn away from your sins of the past year, and turn away from whatever caused your failures in the past year. If you don’t want to fail, then do not do what you were doing that brought on the failures. Sin has major consequences, some of which are irreparable, and as the old saying goes, “sin will take you further than you wanted to go, keep you longer than you wanted to stay, and make you pay more than you wanted to pay.” Sin is a bad boy.
As you look back at your sins, failures, and mistakes of the past year, it would be wise to pay attention to the pain these sins and mistakes caused you (and maybe others around you), and tell yourself like T.D. Jakes said in one of the titles of his sermons, “I betcha I won’t do that again.”
